How ticks stay stuck

Slow motion movies of a female tick, Ixodes ricinus, walking on the glass ceiling.

1st sequence: A female walking on a glass ceiling.

2nd sequence: Attachment and detachment of translucent adhesive pads during locomotion is visible. The totally expanded adhesive pad of a second leg which is in contact with a glass surface while the tick remains attached to the inverted glass. The process of pad detachment is visualized.
3rd sequence: The folded adhesive pad of a foreleg that is in contact with an inverted glass surface. The process of detachment of the pad is visualized. After detachment, the residue of the adhesion-mediating fluid is visible.

The abstract of the full research paper is available at http://jeb.biologists.org/content/220...

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  • Science & Technology

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  • Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)