Induction of egg maturation and oviposition in the tick Ornithodoros parkeri (Acari: Argasidae).
Hemocoelic injection and vaginal insertion of selected male reproductive and non-reproductive tissue homogenates into fed-virgin female Ornithodoros parkeri stimulated varying degrees of ovum maturation and/or oviposition during 14 and 30 day observation periods, respectively. Mean times for oviposition and mean numbers of eggs laid per ovipositing female receiving hemocoelic injections of male reproductive tissue homogenates did not differ significantly from fed-mated controls. In addition, hemocoelic injection of male salivary glandular homogenate induced oviposition, yet synganglial homogenate did not. Although vaginal insertion induced both ovum maturation and oviposition, the effect was not as pronounced as when similar doses were administered by hemocoelic injection. These results indicate that a complex interrelated series of precopulatory and copulatory stimuli are necessary for oviposition to occur in fed O. parkeri.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005837:Genitalia, Male / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010058:Oviposition; D010060:Ovulation; D010063:Ovum / Q000502:physiology; D013987:Ticks / Q000502:physiology*; D014818:Vitellogenesis