Saturday, October 12, 2013

Answer to Case 277

Answer:  Egg of the scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabei.  Note that you can still see it moving within the egg.  The scabies mite has short 'stumpy' legs that terminate in long spines (see case 236) and one of these spines can be seen moving inside of the egg in this case.


Just for fun, we tried to allow the egg to hatch; however it eventually stopped moving and we think that the mineral oil in which the specimen was collected ended up suffocating the mite before it could emerge.

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