PHYLUM ARTHROPODA. CLASS ARACHNIDA.

1. General features of Phylum Arthropoda.

2. General features of Class Arachnida.
3. Order Acarina.
4. Family Acariformiae. Sarcoptes scabiei.
5. Family Ixodidae. Ixodes ricinus.
6. Family Argasidae. Ornithodorus papillipes.
1. GENERAL FEATURES OF PHYLUM ARTHROPODA.
The majority of arthropods function indirectly in human disease, which they transmit
but do not produce; some species are true parasites, whereas others may inflict direct injury
by their bites, stings, or other activities.
The animals of the phylum Arthropoda live in a greater variety of habitats; and they
can eat a greater variety of foods than the members of any other phylum. Among their most
important characteristics are the following:
1. Arthropods are bilaterally symmetrical, triploblastic animals with segmented
body and paired, jointed appendages, from which they got their name (arthropod means
jointed foot).
These appendages function as swimming paddles, walking legs, mouth parts, or
accessory reproductive organs for transferring sperm.
2. A hard exoskeleton, composed of chitin, covers the entire body and appendages. In
the inter-segmental regions the cuticle is thin and flexible.
The exoskeleton serves four important functions:
- it provides support, enabling the body to withstand the pull of gravity;
- it provides protection against drying out; it serves as a coat of armor to protect the
animal against predators;
- it serves as a point of attachment for muscles.
But the exoskeleton has certain disadvantages. Body movement is somewhat
restricted, and in order to grow, the arthropod must shed this outer shell periodically and
grow another larger one. This process, called molting, leaves the animal temporarily
vulnerable to predators.
3. A segmented body. In some arthropod classes, however, segments become fused
together or lost during development.
The bodies of most arthropods are divided into three regions:
1) the head, is formed by the fusion of some of the anterior segments. The appendages
of these segments are modified for feeding and for sensory functions. The process of the
distinct head formation is known as cephalization.
2) the thorax;
3) the abdomen. The thorax and abdomen consist of a variable number of segments.
4. The digestive system is a simple tube. Excretory structures vary from class to class.
5. An open circulatory system with a simple dorsal heart. A hemocoel (blood
cavity) occupies most of the body cavity, and the coelom is small and is filled chiefly by the
organs of the reproductive system.
The open circulatory system includes a dorsal, tubular heart that pumps blood into a
dorsal artery and sometimes several other arteries. From the arteries blood flows into large
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sinuses, which collectively make up the hemocoel. Blood in the hemocoel bathes the tissues
directly. No capillaries or veins are present. Eventually blood finds its way back into the
heart through openings, called ostia, in its walls.
6. Nervous system consists of an anterior nerve ring and a ventral nerve cord with
segmentally arranged ganglia.
In the more complex arthropods, the successive ganglia usually fuse together.
Arthropods have a variety of well-developed sense organs: compound eyes of insects; organs
of hearing; antennae sensitive to touch and cells sensitive to touch on the surface of the
body.
7. Respiratory organs are gills, trachea, book lungs etc. Most of the aquatic
arthropods have a system of gills for gas exchange. The land forms, in contrast, typically
have a system of fine, branching air tubes called tracheae that conduct air to the internal
organs.
8. Excretory organs are Malpighian tubules, green (coxal) glands etc.
9. Phylum is subdivided into several classes. The most important are: Arachnida and
Insecta.
2. GENERAL FEATURES OF CLASS ARACHNIDA.
35 000 species. Like insects they achieved big diversity on the planet.
1) They have 6 pairs of appendages, of which the posterior four pairs are legs and the
anterior two are modified for feeding.
2) Their body is divided into an anterior part prosoma, which bears all the
appendages, and posterior abdomen containing respiratory, circulatory, reproductive and
other organs opisthosoma.
3) Prosoma consists of 6 segments and is not homologous with the head of other
arthropods. There are no antennae on it. Each segment from 4 th till 7th possesses a pair of
walking legs.
4) Opisthosoma usually consists of 13 segments but they are not externally visible all
in some cases. Genital apertures usually are on the second abdominal segment.
5) Arachnida dont have true gnathites. Their gut is highly specialized for the liquid
food. Besides in the middle gut they have hepatic cecum opening.
6) Arachnida are terrestrial, hence they have special internal air - spaces lungs or
tracheae for respiration. Class is subdivided into several orders.
3. GENERAL FEATURES OF ORDER ACARINA.
The order Acarina, ticks and mites, includes many parasites and vectors of diseases.
About 300 species are bloodsucking ectoparasites of mammals, birds, reptiles, and
amphibians, and nearly all are capable of biting human beings.
The tick differs from the mite in its larger size, hairless or short-haired leathery body,
exposed armed hypostome, and the presence of a pair of spiracles near the coxae of the
fourth pair of legs.
1. Their body is not segmented, not subdivided into parts. Usually has oval or circle
shape.

2. On the head they have 2 pairs of upper maxilla and palps, forming hypostome or
proboscis. It may be of 2 types sucking and chewing. The mouth parts and their base, the
capitulum, are attached to the anterior portion of the body by a movable hinge.
3. Adult mites have 4 pairs of legs with claws for better attachment to the host body.
4. The sexes are separate. Development with metamorphosis. Adult female Eggs
Larva (without posterior pair of legs, spiracles, tracheae and genital aperture) 1st molting
Nymph (with 4 pairs of legs and not fully developed genital ducts) may be also several
moltings Adult mite or Imago.
4. SARCOPTES SCABIEI.
Phylum Arthropoda
Class - Arachnida
Order - Acarina
Family - Acariformiae
Species Sarcoptes scabiei (the itch mite or scabies mite)
Disease.
The itch mite, S. scabiei is cosmopolitan in distribution and thoroughly democratic in
its choice of victims. The global prevalence is about 300 million cases. It is both in domestic
animals and humans, causing a disease known as scabies in humans and mange in animals
(by burrowing into the skins of mammals).
Morphology.
S. scabiei is a small, oval, dorsally convex, ventrally flattened, eyeless mite.
The female mite is larger than the male and measures 0.4 mm in length, the male
0.2 - 0.3 mm. The adult females enter the skin, digging sinuous burrows in the upper layers
of the epidermis.
Males never do such burrows. Usually during 1 day female does burrows in 2 3 mm.
Then in such grooves it deposits eggs 20 and more during life.
Legs are very short as adaptation for the life inside the skin. The first pairs of legs
terminate in long tubular processes each with a bell-shaped sucker and claws. The posterior
legs end in long bristles, except the fourth pair in the male, which have suckers. The dorsal
surface is ridged transversely and bears spines, scales, and bristles. The mouth parts consist
of toothed chelicerae, three-jointed conical pedipalps, and labial palps fused to the
hypostome. Respiration is by the whole body surface.
Life-cycle.
The mites live in slightly cutaneous burrows. The female, activated by increased
human body temperature from the skin, usually at night, burrows into the skin, progressing
at the rate of about 2 to 3 mm per day. The burrow is confined to the corneous layer of the
skin. The male excavates lateral pockets or branches in the burrows. The female, during her
life-span of 4 to 5 weeks, deposits up to 40 to 50 eggs in the burrow.
Larvae emerge from the eggs usually in 3 days but sometimes for 10 days. The
hexapod larva either forms a lateral branch or a new tunnel, in which it becomes an eightlegged nymph. The female has two nymphal stages, the male only a single one. The life
cycle is completed in 8 to 15 days. The female may survive off the host for 2 to 3 days at
room temperature.
Human feels very frequently itchy, may scratch this place and open mites burrows
autoinvasion spreading of the parasite on the body surface.
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Scabies is transmitted by personal contact, especially by persons sleeping together, and

less frequently by towels, clothing, and bed linen. Infectivity is low, and the infection ends to
run a limited course in healthy persons of clean habits. Infection is more common in the
slums, jails, and armies.
Clinical features.
The preferential sites are the inter-digital spaces, the flexor surfaces of the wrists and
forearms, elbows, back, inguinal region, and genitalia. The lesions appear as slightly reddish
elevated tracts in the skin. Minute vesicular swellings form beneath the gallery a short
distance behind the mite.
Scratching may result in bleeding and scab formation, frequently followed by
secondary bacterial infection. The skin disease seen in scabies results from a developing
delayed (type IV) hypersensitivity.
The intense itching, aggravated by warmth and perspiration, causes scratching, which
spreads the infestation, irritates the lesions, and induces secondary bacterial infection. As a
result, multiple papular, vesicular, and pustular lesions may be produced. At first, clinical
manifestations may be mild, but after some weeks the skin becomes sensitized, resulting in
an itching, widespread, erythematous eruption.
Norwegian, or crusted, scabies is the name given to the very heavy infestation that
occurs in individuals with severe depression of T cell immune function. This form of scabies
is characterized by extensive, scaling lesions, especially of the extremities, and sometimes
by distorted thickening of the fingernails. Interestingly, pruritus is absent or minimal.
The infection may also be acquired from infected domestic animals, but there appear
to be different strains of the mite, having distinct host preferences, so that an infection
acquired from domestic animals is usually of short duration in humans.
Diagnosis.
While infection with S. scabiei may end spontaneously after a few months, chronic
cases may occur; in such cases the parasites are less numerous and consequently more
difficult to find. The only way in which a definitive diagnosis of scabies can be made is by
finding the parasites or their eggs. Because of their location under the surface of the skin,
scrapings must be made of the infected areas. Before scrapings are made it is best to
examine the skin surface with a hand lens to find the minute burrows of the mite. While eggs
may be found in any portion of a recent excavation, the adult mite is most frequently
recovered from the terminal parts of a fresh burrow. It is therefore best to make scrapings in
these regions. The material obtained in this fashion is placed on a microscope slide, cleared
by adding one or two drops of a 20 per cent solution of potassium hydroxide, covered with a
cover-slip, and examined under the low power of the microscope. Alternatively, mineral oil
may be applied to the skin before scraping. This enables organisms and eggs to adhere better
to the needle or blade and the microscope slide, (Ginsburg, 1984). Other methods that have
been proposed for obtaining specimens, but that appear to be less useful than scraping,
include the use of cellophane tape and various synthetic glues.
Treatment.
Infestation with the itch mite can be eradicated by use of 1 per cent gamma benzene
hexachloride (lindane) in a lotion base. The medication should be applied in the evening
after the lesions have been cleaned and softened by soaking in warm water and should be
left on overnight. One or two additional applications, at weekly intervals, may be necessary
to kill mites that hatch subsequent to the initial treatment. Lindane is not recommended for
pregnant or lactating women.
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For 30 years lindane has been used in the treatment of scabies, so it is not surprising
that lindane-resistant mites have emerged.
Control.
Prevention of scabies requires the treatment of infected individuals, the sterilization of
garments and bedding, and personal cleanliness.
5. IXODES RICINUS.
Phylum - Arthropoda.
Class - Arachnida.
Order- Acarina.
Family - Ixodidae (hard ticks)
Species Ixodes ricinus.
Species Ixodes ricinus (the dog mite) causes disease rabbit-fever. Besides it may
be a vector (carrier) of spring-summer encephalitis. Attachment of the dog mite to the host
body may cause abscess. It is widely spread in the European forests, also in Russia. It is
ectoparasite of domestic animals (like cattle and dogs), wild animals (like rodents) and
human being.
Morphology.
The hard ticks, are so-called because of the horny scutum or coarse-let, they have a
cosmopolitan distribution. The sexes are usually dissimilar. There is a hard dorsal scutum
on the anterior dorsal surface in the female but covering the entire dorsum in the male. The
capitulum, or head, projects from the anterior end and is visibly when viewed from above.
The reddish- or mahogany-brown cephalothorax and abdomen are fused into an oval or
elliptical body with four pairs of six-segmented legs, that arise from the plates of the basal
coxae.
The mouth parts consist of a hypostome, chelicerae, and pedipalps. The median
hypostome with its transverse rows of teeth anchors the parasite to the host. The dorsally
paired, chitinous, shaft-like chelicerae act as cutting organs to permit the insertion of the
hypostome. The paired, four-jointed pedipalps do not penetrate the tissues but serve as
supports. The eyes, when present, are on or near the anterior lateral margin of the scutum.
The ixodid ticks are more specialized ticks, more highly parasitic, produce more
progeny, and infest the host itself.
Ixodes ricinus has oval body. On the back is the coarse-let, which covers all dorsal
part in males; and only half of it in females, larvae and nymphs. Another half of the back is
soft-covered by tissues. Such morphology gives them opportunity to molt, rise and to
increase their body volume during feeding on the host.
Male is about 2,5 mm in length; brown-colored.
Female may be in two conditions: a) during starvation 4 mm in length and brown;
b) after feeding 11 mm, color may be changed from yellow to brown-reddish according to
the volume of blood, which it had absorbed.
Life-cycle.
They all are temporary ectoparasites, which feed on their host. They may live for a big
period of starvation. But when they meet any victim, they bite it, attach and several days
may feed on its blood in such position. Adult females may absorb such volume of blood,
which in 100 times higher than their own weight.
Development with metamorphosis till 3 years. Very high fertility. Female can produce
17000 eggs, but not all of them may give rise to the future adults. All mites have high
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developed sensor organs, especially for the ground vibration, high temperature, CO 2
concentration in the air. Hence, they may feel future appearance of the big animal or man.
Eggs soil or alive trees larvae first feeding on little mammalians larvae
leave their 1st hosts moulting nymph (pupa) adult mites big mammalians like
man.
Clinical features.
A condition known as tick paralysis (tick toxicosis) may be induced by the bite of
certain ticks. 43 species of ticks have been found to cause tick paralysis in humans and other
mammals. In general, the tick must be attached for at least 4 days before symptoms begin.
Prompt removal of the engorging tick usually prevents progression of the paralysis, and
complete recovery takes place in a few days. As far as is known, only engorging adult
female ticks cause tick paralysis. The illness is thought to be caused by a toxin in the saliva
of the tick. But their bites usually painless, because they produce special anaesthetic matter
and their attachment to the host is not visible and asymphtomic.
Control, prevention.
Ixodid ticks may be eliminated by exterminating their rodent hosts and destroying
their habitats. The infested grounds, houses, and animals may be sprayed with diazinon,
chlordane, dieldrin, or BHC. BHC and diazinon have the most rapid immobilizing action but
less residual toxicity than the others, giving good control within a few days and preventing
reinfestation for a month or more. Sprays and 5% to 10% dusts are equally effective.
Suspensions and emulsions are preferable to oil solutions. Effectiveness depends upon the
amount and the thoroughness of distribution. It is advisable to start spraying in the spring,
but a subsequent treatment at the peak of population in the summer is necessary. Ticks may
be brought into houses on clothing or animals, and the dog tick.
6. FAMILY ARGASIDAE (SOFT TICKS).
Morphology.
The argasid ticks are more primitive, are less constantly parasitic, produce fewer
progeny, and infest the habitat of the host.
The soft ticks are primarily ectoparasites of birds, less commonly of mammals and humans. They have a cosmopolitan distribution but are more abundant in warm climates. The
sexes are similar: there is no dorsal plate, the capitulum is not visible dorsally, the spiracles
lie in front of the third pair of coxae.
Coxal glands between the first two coxae secrete a tenacious fluid during feeding and
copulation by some of the soft ticks. This material contains spirochetes (Borrelid) in infected
vectors. They are nocturnal feeders and seldom travel far from their local habitat.
Ornithodoros moubata of Africa, an oval, yellowish-brown, tuberculated, leathery tick,
8 to 9 mm, is the best known parasitic species of this genus. This tick inhabits the cracks in
the floors of native huts and bites its victims at night. The bites of both nymphs and adults
produce hard, red wheals that remain painful for 24 hours. It is an important vector of
endemic relapsing fever.
Several other species of Ornithodoros are vectors of local types of relapsing fever
throughout the world.

Life cycle.
Both sexes of hard and soft ticks are bloodsuckers. The female increases greatly in
size after an engorgement of blood. It then drops off the host to deposit, in 14 to 41 days,
2000 to 8000 small, oval, brown eggs and dies in 3 to 36 days after oviposition.
The soft ticks lay 100 to 200 eggs in several batches following successive blood
meals. After 2 to 7 weeks, larvae with three pairs of legs emerge from the eggs. These active
ticks attach themselves to small animals for a blood meal, then drop off and molt into
nymphs with four pairs of legs but without a genital pore.
Hard ticks have a single nymphal stage, but soft ticks may have several. Nymphs may
hibernate unfed over the winter and then, after one or more blood meals, molt into adults on
the ground. The life cycle is usually completed in 1 or 2 years, occasionally in 3. The adults
may hibernate unfed, and then the fertilized female, after a blood meal, deposits her eggs.
The same or different species of mammal may serve as hosts for the various stages. Various
modifications of the cycle such as change of host, length of time on the host, number of
molts, and frequency of oviposition occur in different species.
During their larval, nymphal, and adult stages, ticks are intermittent parasites of animals and spend most of their existence on the ground. Favorable environmental conditions
include abundant vegetation, moisture, and numerous animal hosts. Ticks are susceptible to
sunlight, desiccation, and excessive rainfall, but are resistant to cold.
The larval and nymphal ticks feed on small animals, and the adult ticks on medium to
large ones, attaching themselves when the animals come in contact with infested vegetation.
Disease:
Ticks harm humans and lower animals by
1) the mechanical injury of their bites, local itching, or even the formation of nodules,
2) by the production of tick paralysis,
3) by the transmission of bacterial, viral, rickettsial, spirochetal, and protozoan diseases.
After the chelicerae have cut the skin, the toothed hypostome anchors the tick during
the blood meal. Its insertion produces an inflammatory reaction of the perivascular tissues of
the corium, with local hyperemia, edema, hemorrhage. The wound may become necrotic or
secondarily infected. If the capitulum is broken off in the skin during removal of the tick it
may cause a festering wound.
Tick paralysis occurs in sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, and occasionally in humans.
The disease manifests itself as a progressive, ascending, flaccid motor paralysis that is
due to a neuromuscular blockade at the presynaptic level, peripheral nerve involvement
caused by the tick toxin. The toxin is elaborated by the tick's ovaries and secreted by the
salivary glands.
The disease has a rapid onset, with malaise, vague body pains, slight or no fever. In a
few hours an ascending flaccid paralysis ensues with muscular incoordination, ataxia, dysphagia, and muscular paralysis, usually bilateral but sometimes localized. Sensory signs are
very rare in tick paralysis. Death occurs from respiratory paralysis, although most affected
persons recover. Children are usually affected; occasionally aged adults are affected.
Diagnosis.
The important diagnostic reminder is simply to think of the possibility of tick paralysis
when faced with a clinical picture such as this and to search for the tick, especially in the
area of the neck covered by hair. The paralysis subsides after the removal of the tick.
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The ticks may be removed from the skin by gentle traction after applying chloroform,
ether, alcohol, gasoline, kerosene, glycerol, ethyl chloride or a glowing match or cigarette to
the tick. A high-school student has offered the following simple but ingenious method of tick
removal. Allow two drops of clear fingernail polish to fall from the brush and completely
cover the tick. It will release its bite and can easily be wiped from the skin in seconds. Care
should be taken not to break off the capitulum in the wound. Early removal is indicated in
order to prevent tick paralysis. Paralysis, if present, soon subsides after the removal of the
tick.
Control, prevention.
Argasid ticks are best combated by destroying their nests or lairs. Infested native huts
should be burned, or the floors and walls should be plastered to eliminate the crevices and
then sprayed with BHC or the less effective diazinon. More than one application is required,
since these insecticides are ineffective against the eggs. Rodent-proofing of buildings is
desirable. Inhabitants should avoid sleeping on the floor.
Control of mites in their habitats is difficult. (1) The breeding grounds may be
destroyed by burning and clearing the tall grasses and underbrush, by cultivation, and by
sheep grazing, and (2) the rodent hosts may be destroyed. Chlordane or lindane sprays are
effective. Ground sprays with chlorpyriphos or ultra-low-volume sprays of propoxur can
also be used. Persons may be protected by boots and closely woven clothing with tightfitting edges or, better, by clothing impregnated with repellents.
Treatment.
For the irritating dermatitis caused by chiggers, a hot soap-and-water bath is followed
by the application to the affected skin of a 10% sulfur ointment containing 1% phenol.
Palliative treatment includes the application of alcohol, ammonia, baking soda, alcoholic
iodine, camphor, or a saturated solution of salicylic acid in alcohol with a little sweet oil.
Pyogenic infections are treated with 30% ammoniated mercury ointment or an appropriate
antibiotic.