Hemocyte Types and Their Primary Cultures in the Argasid Tick, Ornithodoros moubata MURRAY (Ixodoidea)

The hemolymph of adult Ornithodoros moubata was found to contain 5 types of hemocytes, namely, prohemocytes, early plasmatocytes, advanced plasmatocytes, early spherule cells and advanced spherule cells.Primary cultures of hemocytes were successfully maintained in MITSUHASHI and MARAMOROSCH's and REHACEK and BRAZOSTOWSKI's culture media for up to 8 months by replenishing these media at 10 day intervals. The hemocytes floated freely in the media a few days after initiation of the cultures. Although no apparent cell proliferation occurred, the composition of the cell population changed considerably during cultivation ; the ratio of prohemocytes increased gradually in both media and that of spherule cells decreased significantly.