Voigt Dagmar, Gorb Stanislav
Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, Kiel D-24098, Germany
Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, Kiel D-24098, Germany.
J Exp Biol. 2017 Jun 1;220(Pt 11):1984-1996. doi: 10.1242/jeb.152942.
The presence of well-developed, elastic claws on ticks and widely pilose hosts led us to hypothesise that ticks are mostly adapted to attachment and locomotion on rough, strongly corrugated and hairy, felt-like substrates. However, by using a combination of morphological and experimental approaches, we visualised the ultrastructure of attachment devices of and showed that this species adheres more strongly to smooth surfaces than to rough ones. Between paired, elongated, curved, elastic claws, bears a large, flexible, foldable adhesive pad, which represents an adaptation to adhesion on smooth surfaces. Accordingly, ticks attached strongest to glass and to surface profiles similar to those of the human skin, generating safety factors (attachment force relative to body weight) up to 534 (females). Considerably lower attachment force was found on silicone substrates and as a result of thanatosis after jolting.
蜱虫身上发育良好的弹性爪子以及宿主广泛的刚毛，使我们推测蜱虫大多适应于在粗糙、有强烈波纹且多毛、类似毛毡的基质上附着和移动。然而，通过结合形态学和实验方法，我们观察到了[蜱虫名称未给出]附着装置的超微结构，并表明该物种在光滑表面上的附着力比在粗糙表面上更强。在成对的、细长的、弯曲的弹性爪子之间，[蜱虫名称未给出]有一个大的、灵活的、可折叠的黏附垫，这代表了对在光滑表面上黏附的一种适应。因此，蜱虫在玻璃以及与人类皮肤表面轮廓相似的表面上附着力最强，产生的安全系数（附着力相对于体重）高达534（雌性）。在硅胶基质上以及摇晃后假死时发现附着力明显较低。
