Description of larva of Amblyomma romitii (Acari: Ixodidae) by optical and scanning electron microscopy, including porotaxy and phylogenetic analysis

Abstract

The description of the larva of Amblyomma romitii Tonelli-Rondelli is based on optical and scanning electron microscopy. Larvae were obtained under laboratory conditions from an engorged female collected on capybara from Rurópolis municipality, State of Pará, Northern Brazil. Several characters are presented including the chaetotaxy of idiosoma, palpi and Haller's organ. The larval porotaxy (topographical and numerical patterns of integumentary structures) was presented and compared to that of the other Amblyomma spp. larvae. The mitochondrial 16S rDNA partial sequence of A. romitii generated in the present study was aligned with sequences previously determined for other Amblyomma species available in Genbank and with some species presently sequenced. The larval morphology of A. romitii and other Neotropical Amblyomma spp. larvae is discussed as well as the DNA sequence and its phylogenetic position among other species of the genus.

Staging Alzheimer’s Disease Risk by Sequencing Brain Function and Structure, Cerebrospinal Fluid, and Cognition Biomarkers

“…ADNI initially was launched in 2003 by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the US Food and Drug Administration [17], private pharmaceutical companies, and nonprofit organizations, as a $60 million, five-year public-private partnership. Michael W. Weiner, MD, from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California-San Francisco, is the principal investigator of ADNI.…”