A tick (Ixodes ricinus)

ralfwagner · Post by **ralfwagner** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:24 am

Hello,

recently my wife was hurt by a tick. So I used my chance and prepared it:

- 24 h abs. Ethanol

- 24 h 80% Lactic acid

- 24 h 15% KOH

- dewatering in via Ethanol, mount in Euparal

- Overview with the 5x objective, dtitch of 21 pictures, Autostitch

- Clava, ZS-stack of 25 pictures, 10x objective

- Clava, ZS-stack of 14 pictures, 20x objective

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:30 pm

Very nice Ralf. I am surprised you were able to see through it. The ones here are dark brown and I don't think you could get light to pass through them.

Eric F · Post by **Eric F** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:46 pm

Mitch,

The day-long treatments of both Lactic acid and KOH have helped to clear the cuticle of the tick to a great extent, as well as eliminate lots of "extraneous" internal tissue. That is the purpose of these treatments: to prepare the specimen for clear viewing on a slide.

Eric