title: Characterization of dog repellent factor from cuticular secretion of female yellow dog tick, Haemaphysalis leachi.
abstract: During its natural life cycle, the yellow dog tick, Haemaphysalis leachi, has three hosts, and it has to spend enough time on each of them to complete a blood meal. When irritated, the females of this tick species produce a cuticular secretion that contains a dog-repelling allomone. This improves the tick's chances of survival by deterring the dog from biting the tick off its body. Employing response-guided isolation techniques in conjunction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the defensive allomone of H. leachi was found to consist of the six homologous aliphatic aldehydes from hexanal to undecanal. A mixture of synthetic versions of these six aldehydes in quantities corresponding to those secreted by one tick elicited strong aversion reactions in the majority of dogs of various breeds.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Ecological Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa. LECUS@sun.ac.za
authors.forename: Ben V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marx
authors.forename: Maritha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Roux
authors.forename: Burger W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Oelofsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D007302:Insect Repellents; D013987:Ticks / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007302:Insect Repellents