Anatolia, however, when rearing larvae and nymphs from tick-infested animals, it was found that these stages commonly attack tortoises, lizards (Agama), partridges, man, hares, hedgehogs, and a wide variety of rodents (Hoogstraal, ms.). A number of Russian host records were presented by Olenev (1928B). The life cycle of "H. aegyptium" described by Nuttall (1915) applies to H. marginatum. Nuttall's lot 1305a in British Museum (Natural History) was used for this study. No material for his lot X (from Rome) can now be located. It appears that the study of the external morphology of each stage and of the bionomics of "H. aegyptium" in India (Sharif 1924) applies actually to H. excavatum, but this is not certain. A popular article concerning the actual H. aegyptium has recently appeared in the Illustrated London News (Browning 1950). Based on living ticks arriving in the British Isles on pet-shop tortoises from southern Europe, this account should interest persons who frequently encounter this name promiscuously used in the literature. Distribution data in the Browning paper are from literature references under H. aegyptium, and, therefore, far more extensive than the actual geographic range of this species in nature. Contemporary published reports on disease transmission by ticks unfortunately continue to perpetuate the early confusion In identification of species in this genus. The tortoise para site, H. aegyptium, has never been incriminated as a vector or reservoir of pathogenic organisms of man, other mammals, or birds. H. aegyptium does, however, transmit two sporozoa to land tortoises in northwestern Africa and in the Near East. These are Haemogragarina mauritanica and H. stepanovi (cf. Sergent and Sergent 1904, Laveran and Negre 1905, Nicolle and Comte 1905, Laveran and Pettit 1910, Brumpt 19380; and Laveran 1901, Marzinowsky 1927, Popovici-Baznos ano 1901,1906,1907, and Reichenow 1910). Another parasite from this tick Coelomoplasma hyalommae, has been briefly described by Brumpt (19380) without further classification as to group (see also Brumpt 1938E). Further studies on these parasites have not been encountered. Certain unusual morphological characters of this easily recognized species cause the tortoise hyalomma to be considered in a separate subgenus, Hyalommasta Schulze, 1930. H. aegyptium punctata Schulze, 1919 (see also Kratz 1940), a name proposed for a single specimen from Malta and subsequently overlooked by even Schulze himself, is undoubtedly a synonym of H. aegyptium. Pomerantzev (1950) considers Dermacentor rosmari Ass (1935), described from nymphs from walrus in the Kara (White) Sea and said to be the northernmost ticks on record, as a synonym of H. aegyptium. On the basis of the original description and illus trations of D. rosmari, its systematic position is uncertain but this synonymy is hardly convincing. The synonymous name H. syriacum Koch, 1844, has frequently been used for the actual H. aegyptium. So far as has been determined, H. syriacum has been confused with no other species. Both sexes can be readily distinguished from key characters provided herein. Figures 194 and 195, o, dorsal and ventral views Figures 196 and 197, g, dorsal and ventral views A, Q, genital area. B and C, Q, genital area, HY ALOMMA ALBIPARMATUM Specimens from cattle, Kenya; from Nuttall lot 3773, exchange, British Museum (Natural History). Hoogstraal collection. PLATE LVI 517 HY ALOMMA ALBIPARMATUM Schulze and Schlottke, 1930 (= H. BRUNNELPARMATUM S. and S., 1930). (Figures 194 to 197) THE PARMATED AFRICAN HYALOMMA H. albiparmatum, presently known only from Kenya, Tanganyika, and Togo, is similar to H. truncatum except that the central fes toon is differentiated as a parma in the form of a celluloidlike cover of variable size, shape, and color. No constant characters have been discovered for differentiating females of these two species. Delpy (1949B) considered H. impressum albi parmatum Schulze and Schlottke, 1930, from East Africa, as a synonym of H. marginatum (H. savignyi) or questionably of H. truncatum H transiens); he considered H. brunneiparmatum of Schulze and Schlottke (1930) to be a synonym of H. marginatum (= H. savignyi). Feldman Muhsam (1954) stated, after examining Kenya laboratoryreared material of H. albiparmatum submitted by J. B. Walker that H. albiparmatum is a synonym of H. truncatum. Dr. Theiler and the writer, after examination of the same material, are convinced that Walker's H. albiparmatum is a distinct genetic entity worthy of full species rank. It is also apparent from Walker's material and from other series in British Museum (Natural History) collections that H. impressum brunneiparmatum Schulze and Schlottke, 1930, from Togo is a synonym of H. albiparmatum and not of H. truncatum as stated by Feldman Muhsam 1954. Miss Walker is preparing a report on this species for publication in Parasitology. Hosts of the parmated African hyalomma appear to be the same as those of H. truncatum. British Museum (Natural History) collections contain material from cattle and from a rhinoceros from Zatta Plains, Kajiado, Namanga, and the Masai Reserve, Kenya (HH det.). J. B. Walker (correspondence) has seen specimens from a rhinoceros from Iringa District, Tanganyika, and from a warthog in Chunya District, Tanganyika. |