"First the mandibles,
“First the mandibles, with saw-toothed distalends, function as a pair of scissors in snipping the skin. The slightly shorter maxillae, provided with marginal reversed hooklets having toothed terminations, tear open the wound until it is large enough to allow the labrumepipharynx to reach the level of peripheral capillaries. Thus, in the removal of microfilariae of Onchocera from the host, the maxillae are believed to liberate from the infused skin the embryos, which are then trapped by the terminal spines of the labrumepipharynx and hypopharynx.” (Gibbins, 1938)
This description of a black fly bite excerpted from Craig and Faust’s Clinical Parasitology (Seventh Edition, 1964, Lea & Febiger)
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