Hello,
I was looking at the morphology of ticks and ran into the syncoxae. Some literature I read said it had a lighter color or texture compared to the rest of the coxae, thus calling it the syncoxae. Another article described the syncoxae as "alloscutal cuticle" on the posterior margins of the coxae. Other than these descriptions, I was unable to obtain any more information or pictures.
What definitively is the syncoxae and is there possibly a photo of it?
Thank you
I recommend to look at the paper by J. Nosek and W. Sixl (1972) "Central-European Ticks (Ixodoidea) - Key for Determination" ( www.zobodat.at/pdf/MittZoolJoan_01_1972_0061-0092.pdf ).
It is very nice that you are looking at morphological characters of ticks (not only molecular).
Best wishes.
Thank you vary much, but I was already looking at that particular key for reference. I still have yet to find anything else on the syncoxae or even a picture.
Yes, looking at morphology seems to be rare nowadays. It just tells a better story about the organism.
Like you said, this refers to a gradation of color on the coxae darker at the anterior end and lighter to the posterior especially on the spurs. I'm not sure I've ever actually noticed it in tick specimens, and generally worry about characters based on coloration fading after long preservation in ethanol.
Since this character is of so minor importance for taxonomy, it is impossible to find it in the majority of keys for tick identification. Jonathan is completely right about characters based on coloration.
Best regards.
Thank you,
I was going over images I had taken of I. scapularis and noticed distinct patches on the coxae of the first two legs. I looked through keys and came across syncoxae and was curious if it was synonymous.