Feeding, development and ecology of the cattle tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, together with the life cycle of Theileria sergenti.

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1. The feeding pattern, mating and oviposition were examined in the female cattle tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis. Females of the bisexual race needed mating to complete engorgement and oviposition. Mating seemed to occur at the earliest on the 3rd-4th day after commencement of feeding. There was a positive correlation between the total number of deposited eggs and the fed female weight in the bisexual race. 2. The oocyte began to develop with feeding. Yolk deposition and egg-shell synthesis commenced on the day of detachment. During vitellogenesis, a large oocyte nucleus with the nuclear crypt became situated near the side of the funicle cells, and well-developed microvilli and active pinocytosis were conspicuous on the oocyte plasma membrane. Mature oocytes were ovulated into the ovarian lumen through a pathway among the developed funicle cells, and many spermatozoa ascended to the ovarian lumen. A spermatozoon seemed to fertilize the ovulated oocytes in the ovarian lumen, because they had not the above characteristic egg nucleus any longer. 3. Bloodmeal digestion in the nymphal tick was biochemically examined. The quantity of total protein decreased rapidly from the detachment day to the 9th day after detachment. The major part of proteins in the midgut contents was hemoglobin and albumin, the former being much larger than the latter in quantity. Hemoglobin decreased rapidly until the 9th day after detachment, and then was maintained at a low level. A large quantity of hematin was detected in the midgut at the detachment day, its quantity more increased as hemoglobin digestion proceeded, and started to decrease rapidly from the 1st to 5th day after molting. 4. Our ultrastructural study revealed that the midgut functioned as a nutritional reserve organ during the unfed stage, served as a digestive organ at both the feeding stage and the premolting period, and acted again as a main nutritional reservoir after molting.