The initial stylostome formation by parasitic larvae of the water-mite genus Arrenurus on zygopteran imagines

Arrenurid water-mite larvae, ectoparasitic on zygopteran imagines (Odonata), attach themselves to the host s cuticle and pierce it with the cheliceral blades to obtain the host s tissue fluids. Promptly after anchoring in feeding position, secretions of the larval mite are forced into the host beneath the attachment site, where a subcuticular vesicle, bounded by a delicate gelatinous membrane, appears in the epidermis layer. The vesicle...