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The Process of copulation in Ornithodorus moubata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

George H. F. Nuttall
Affiliation:
(From the Quick Laboratory, University of Cambridge.)
Gordon Merriman
Affiliation:
(From the Quick Laboratory, University of Cambridge.)

Extract

Although the literature on ticks is very extensive, we have failed to find any satisfactory description therein of the process of copulation. Most authors state that the male mouthparts are introduced into the female genital orifice, or vulva, and that this constitutes copulation, leaving it to the reader's imagination to determine how the seminal secretion gains access to the female generative organs. The mechanism of copulation, in other words, remains to be described, and we propose, in this paper, to give an account of what we have observed in Ornithodorus moubata. We shall describe the process in Ixodidae in a later paper, but may state here that, as far as our knowledge goes, it is essentially the same as in moubata, that is, impregnation takes place by means of spermatophores.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1911

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References

REFERENCES

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