The production of cuticle wax by engorged females of the cattle tick, Boophilus microplus (Canestrini).

The layer of wax secreted on to the surface of the cuticle by arthropods plays an important part in protecting these animals against physico-chemical hazards of their environment, and so contributes significantly to the difficulty and expense of controlling economically undesirable species. In spite of this importance, however, very little is known about the biosynthesis of cuticle wax or the quantitative aspects of its production. Discussions of possible mechanisms for the transport of wax to the cuticular surface have described its synthesis and deposition as a continuous process (Locke, 1965) or as one completed early in development (Lees, 1947). In insects with an unusually well-developed ability to form wax, such as the white wax scale and the honey-bee, a progressive increase in the amount secreted is obvious. Insects (Wigglesworth, 1945) and ticks (Lees, 1947) have been shown to repair damage to abraded cuticle by the deposition of new wax, and to form, under some conditions, a layer thicker than the original. Extra wax may be secreted on to the insect cuticle during moulting (Wigglesworth, 1945). In general, however, it seems to be accepted that the wax layer, once formed, is kept fairly constant in thickness, at least during adult life, and is replenished only as circumstances require. In the course of an investigation into the origin of the components of the cuticular wax of the cattle tick Boophilus microplus, the amount of wax produced by the engorged female was measured at intervals of time between dropping from the host and death at the completion of egg-laying. In an attempt to relate wax secretion to general physiological activity, the weight lost by the tick during egg-laying was measured at the same intervals. This report presents the results of these measurements.