Following several days of blood feeding by larval and nymphal ixodid (hard) ticks, the salivary glands degenerate and are completely replaced in the next life stage. Yet, what happens during the molt of immature argasid (soft) ticks after their rapid and small bloodmeal has remained a mystery. Multiple studies of nymphal Ornithodoros hermsi Wheeler (Acari: Argasidae) ticks infected with the relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii suggested the salivary glands in these ticks may not disintegrate after feeding. Therefore, cohorts of second-stage O. hermsi nymphs were fed and examined daily after the bloodmeal by fresh dissections and weekly by histological cross-sections of the entire tick. The composition of the salivary glands was typical for argasid ticks in having agranular (Type I) and granular (Type II) acini, the latter being surrounded by a myo-epithelial sheath. In all 197 ticks examined from 1 to 63 days after feeding, morphologically intact salivary glands were present. During apolysis, 5 ticks had extralimital clusters of granular acini adhering to otherwise intact glands. Our observations demonstrate that the salivary glands of nymphal O. hermsi do not disintegrate after feeding and new acini are produced during the molt for incorporation into the existing glands. Cumulatively, these findings suggest a fundamental difference in the transstadial development of argasid and ixodid ticks.

中文翻译：

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赫氏钝缘蜱（蜱螨亚纲：蜱科）唾液腺的组成和跨体滞留

在幼虫和若虫硬蜱吸血几天后，唾液腺退化并在下一个生命阶段被完全取代。然而，未成熟的软蜱在快速而少量地吸血后的蜕皮过程中会发生什么仍然是个谜。对感染回归热螺旋体赫氏疏螺旋体的若虫赫氏Ornithodoros Hermsi Wheeler（螨虫：蜱科）蜱的多项研究表明，这些蜱的唾液腺在进食后可能不会分解。因此，第二阶段的赫氏蜱若虫群每天在吸血后通过新鲜解剖进行喂养和检查，每周通过整个蜱的组织学横截面进行检查。唾液腺的组成是阿格斯蜱的典型特征，具有无颗粒（I 型）和颗粒（II 型）腺泡，后者被肌上皮鞘包围。在喂食后 1 至 63 天检查的所有 197 只蜱中，都存在形态完整的唾液腺。在解体过程中，5只蜱的完整腺体上附着有超界限的颗粒状腺泡簇。我们的观察表明，赫氏若虫的唾液腺在进食后不会分解，并且在蜕皮过程中会产生新的腺泡，并融入现有的腺体中。总的来说，这些发现表明，argasid 蜱和 ixodid 蜱的跨斯塔发育存在根本差异。