Canadian Medical Guide > Organisms > Animals > Invertebrates > Arthropods > Arachnida > Acari Terms and Definitions




Acari

Medical Definition: A large, subclass of arachnids comprising the MITES and TICKS, including parasites of plants, animals, and humans, as well as several important disease vectors.
Guide Notes: acaricides: index under INSECTICIDES even though Acari are not insects
Previously Indexed: Arachnida (1966-1974)
Acari Categories.
Canadian Medical Guide Definition Mites - Any arthropod of the subclass ACARI except the TICKS. They are minute animals related to the spiders, usually having transparent or semitransparent bodies. They may be parasitic on humans and domestic animals, producing various irritations of the skin (MITE INFESTATIONS). Many mite species are important to human and veterinary medicine as both parasite and vector. Mites also infest plants.
Canadian Medical Guide Definition Ticks - Blood-sucking acarid parasites of the order Ixodida comprising two families: the softbacked ticks (ARGASIDAE) and hardbacked ticks (IXODIDAE). Ticks are larger than their relatives, the MITES. They penetrate the skin of their host by means of highly specialized, hooked mouth parts and feed on its blood. Ticks attack all groups of terrestrial vertebrates. In humans they are responsible for many TICK-BORNE DISEASES, including the transmission of ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER; TULAREMIA; BABESIOSIS; AFRICAN SWINE FEVER; and RELAPSING FEVER. (From Barnes, Invertebrate Zoology, 5th ed, pp543-44)

Acari Medical Definitions and Terms

CANADIAN MEDICAL GUIDE

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