Tick What?

There is always a book to round out a discussion. Take the case of subject matter “tick spit,” which name alone simply screams for explanation please; it begs a book recommendation for elaboration. In a recent article in “Chemical & Engineering News,” Vol. 102, No. 23 (July 29, 2024), entitled “What’s That Stuff, Tick Cement,” staff writer Fionna Samuels writes about what she also calls “tick spit.” Tick cement or spit is a protein-rich tick mouth secretion that polymerizes to form a glue that holds the tick fast to the victim’s skin while it slurps up its meal of mammalian blood. The bond formed is an added evolutionary advantage to the tick’s already good attachment strategy of burying its barbed, toothy mouth into the victim’s skin. Mosquitos and bedbugs, by contrast, only dip their…