Parthenogenesis in Ticks

Extract

Aragão (1912) has recently described a new species of tick which he raised through three complete generations upon cold-blooded animals, the natural hosts in Brazil. He gave the species the name Amblyomma agamum because reproduction occurred parthenogenetically, males not having as yet been observed. The tick, in common with most other Ixodidae, feeds upon three successive hosts in the larval, nymphal and adult stages; it may, however, undergo metamorphosis from larva to nymph upon the host. This observation of Aragão's is the first of the kind, for parthenogenesis has not hitherto been observed in ticks. In the course of his raising experiments he obtained thousands of females which laid fertile eggs in the absence of males.