Figures 220 and 221, ♀, engorged, dorsal and ventral views IXODES NAIROBIENSIS Specimen from Er Renk, Upper Nile Province, Sudan (SCC), in poor condition. IXODES NAIROBIENSIS Nuttall, 1916. (Figures 220 and 221) THE RODENT RUSSET TICK LN ệ ở 7 1 EQUATORIA PROVINCE RECORDS Torit Mastomys natalensis ismailiae Dec Lotti Forest Mastomys natalensis ismailiae Mar The Lotti Forest specimen was taken at 4500 feet elevation. DISTRIBUTION IN THE SUDAN Er Renk, a single female from a dog, H. H. King Upper Nile: legit, 2 July 1909. Ixodes rasus" species. DISTRIBUTION Ixodes nairobiensis is a seldom collected tick of East Africa that ranges as far south as Southern Rhodesia and Angola. EAST AFRICA: SUDAN (Hoogstraal 1954B). KENYA (Nuttall 1916. Bedford 1932B). published). SOUTHERN AFRICA: ANGOLA (CNHM collection, from near Dundo, Lunda). SOUTHERN RHODESIA (Theiler, unpublished). HOSTS The strange assortment of hosts listed below indicates that there is much to learn about this tick and that some records may be due to misidentification. Females Domestic dogs (Nuttall 1916. Sudan record above). Warthog and multimammate mouse (Mastomys) (Bedford 1932B). Shrew, civet, and the following rodents: rat (Rattus rattus); creek rat, Pelomys fallax concolor; rock rats, Aethomys spp.; and groovetoothed rat, Otomys tropicalis pretoriae (Theiler, unpublished), and striped grassmouse, Lemniscomys s. striatus (Angola specimen mentioned above). Immature Stages Nymphs from multimammate mice (Equatoria Province records above), and Aethomys spp. (Theiler, unpublished). Larvae from Otomys tropicalis pretoriae (Theiler, unpublished). Unstated stage from kusu or grass rat, Arvicanthis abyssinicus (Theiler, unpublished). BIOLOGY The male is unknown. It either takes no blood or feeds for only short periods, and should be searched for especially in rodent nests. Immature stages have been collected from nestinhabiting rodents and probably also feed on insectivores as well. Females parasitize carnivores and the warthog. It is noteworthy that Roberts (1935) did not obtain this tick in his survey of rodent-nest inhabiting ticks in the Nairobi area. See HOSTS above. Unstudied. DISEASE RELATIONS IDENTIFICATION The female is readily identified. The anal grooves are horseshoe shaped. The scutum is 1.5 times as long as wide or even longer, widest just anterior of the midlength; it has a moderate number of mostly fine and a few moderate size puncta tions many of which give rise to a pale hair, distinct lateral ridges, and a depressed cervical area; its color is chestnut brown. Coxae are without internal spurs except on I, but each has a small basoexternal spur. The auriculae (i.e. lateral spurs) of the ventral basis capituli are long and retrograde. The immature stages have not yet been described and the male is unknown. |