Notwithstanding their wide distribution and domestic habitats, R. sanguineus populations vary considerably in density from one area to another. This tick gradually increases in number from southern Sudan, where it is frequently encountered but seldom exceedingly numerous, through central and northern Sudan to Lower Egypt in which areas it is usually a most ubiquitous pest. Although this picture appears to contradict the tick's preference for a warm, humid climate, it is undoubtedly influenced by human cultural patterns, man-made microhabits such as buildings and irrigated fields, and concentration of human and animal populations. The known distribution of R. sanguineus up to January 1949, has been mapped by Leeson (1951). African areas left unmarked on this map are far too extensive. The American Geographical Society's (1954) map of the distribution of the kennel tick also contains many gaps in Africa as well as in other parts of the world where this tick exists. A literature survey and examination of British Museum (Natural History) collections, the Onderstepoort records, and our collection shows that this species is present almost everywhere in Africa except possibly in the most extreme situations of the great deserts of northern and southwest. ern Africa and perhaps in a few of the most isolated oases. The following distributional records are for continental Africa, its outlying islands, and that part of Arabia within the Ethiopian Faunal Region, only. NORTH AFRICA: EGYPT (As Ixodes linnaei: Savignyi 1826 and Audouin 1827. Neumann 1901,1911. Dönitz 1905,1910B. Samson 1908. Mason 1915,1916. Nuttall 1915. Bodenheimer and Theodor 1929. Carpano 1936. Said 1948. Hoogstraal, Wassif, and Kaiser 1955. Hurlbut 1956). LIBYA (Franchini 1927,1928,1929A,B. Tonelli_Rondelli 1930A, 1932D. Giordano and Nastasi 1935. Giordano and Giordano 1935. Garibaldi 1935. Stella 1938. Enigk 1943. Bartone 1950). TUNISIA (Neumann 1911. Galli_Valerio 1911A. Chatton and Blanc 1916A,B,1917,1918. Brumpt 1919. Durand and Conseil 1930, 1931. Durand 1931,1932A,B. Anderson 1935. Anderson and Sicart Alexander, Mason, and Neitz 1939. Colas-Belcour and Rageau 1937. 1951). ALGERIA (Neumann 1911. Senevet 1928B. A. Sergent 1933,1936, 1938A,B. A. Sergent and Levy 1935. Edm. Sergent, Et. Sergent, and Parrot 1935. Clastrier 1936. Donatien and Lestoquard 1935, 1936A. Edm. Sergent and Poncet 1937,1940,1952. Edm. Sergent, Donatien, and Parrot 1945. Edm. Sergent, Donatien, Parrot, and Lestoquard 1945. Edm. Sergent 1948,1953. d'Arces 1952). MOROCCO (Velu 1921. Lavier 1923. Lavier 1923. Beros and Balozet 1929. Brumpt 1930A. Gaud and Nain 1935. Blanc and Bruneau 1948,1954. Blanc, Martin and Maurice 1946. Chabaud 1950A. Blanc, Bruneau, and Chabaud 1950B,1951. Blanc 1951). TANGIER (Charrier 1925. Remlinger and Bailly 1939). SPANISH MOROCCO (Lopez-Neyra 1949). WEST AFRICA: NIGERIA (Simpson 1912A,B. Connal and Coghill 1917. Pearse 1929. Philip 1931A,B. Mettam 1940. Findlay and Elmes 1947. Findlay and Archer 1948. Fiasson 1949. Gambles 1951. Unsworth 1952). GOLD COAST (Warburton and Nuttall 1909. Simpson 1914,1918. Macfie 1916. Beal 1920. Stewart 1933. Findlay and Archer 1948). TOGO (Neumann 1911). FRENCH WEST AFRICA (Neumann 1911. Nuttall 1925. Peltier, Carriere, Jonchere, and Arquie 1938. Blanc, Goiran, and Baltazard 1937,1938. Risbec 1944. Rousselot 1951,1953B. Villiers 1955). LIBERIA (Bequaert 1930A). SIERRA LEONE (Simpson 1913. Entomo logical Report 1916). PORTUGESE GUINEA (Fontoura de Sequeira 1936. Tendeiro 1936A, B,1948,1951A,1952A,C,1953,1954). GAMBIA (Simpson 1911). CENTRAL AFRICA: CAMEROONS (Neumann 1901,1911. Ziemann 1912A. Schulze 1943B. Rageau 1951,1953A,B. Rousselot 1951,1953B. Remarks by Dezest 1953 concerning "Rhipicephalus" probably refer to this species). FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA (Warburton 1927. Fiasson 1943B. Gaud 1949. Pellisier and Trinquier 1949. Pellisier, Troquereau, and Trinquier 1950. Giroud, Jadin, and Reizes 1951. Giroud 1951. Rousselot 1951,1953A,B). BELGIAN CONGO and RUANDA URUNDI (Newstead, Dutton, and Todd 1907. Massey 1908. Neumann 1911. Seydel 1925. Schouteden 1927. Schwetz 1927A,B,C. Tonelli Rondelli 1930A. Bequaert 1930A,B,1931. Remarks concerning "Rhipicephalus sp. du chien" by Van Slype and Bouvier 1936, probably refer to R. s. sanguineus. Wanson, Richard, and Toubac 1947. Cooreman 1948. Fain 1949. Dubois 1949B. Schoenaers 1951A. and Robinson 1954. EAST AFRICA: Jadin and Giroud 1951. Rousselot 1951. Theiler SUDAN (Balfour 1906,1908A,1911F. King 1908,1911, 1926. As R. macropis: ETHIOPIA (Neumann 1902B,1911,1922. Tonelli_Rondelli 1930A. Stella 1938A,1939A,1940. Roetti 1939. Cavazzi 1943. Charters 1946, quoting British Army Pathology Service). ERITREA (Franchini 1927,1929D,E. Tonelli-Rondelli 1930A,19320. Stella 1938A,1939A,B, 1940. Cavazzi 1943. Sforza 1947. Ferro-Luzzi 1948). FRENCH SOMALILAND (Neumann 1901. Hoogstraal 1953D). BRITISH SOMALILAND (Neumann 1901,1911. Drake Brockman 1913B. Stella 1938A,1939A). ITALIAN SOMALILAND (As R. beccarii: Pavesi 1883,1895. As R. stigmaticus and R. limbatus: Pavesi 1898. Pocock 1900. Paoli 1916. Neumann 1922. Franchini 1929. Niro 1935. Stella 1938A, 1939,1940). UGANDA (Neave 1912. Neumann 1922. Neumann 1922. Richardson 1930. Mettam 1932. Carmichael 1940,1942. Wilson 1948,1950C. Fiedler 1953. Steyn 1955). KENYA (As R. stigmaticus and R. punctatissimus: Gerstacker 1873. Neave 1912. Neumann 1912,1922. Anderson 1924A,B. Lewis 19310,1932A,1934,1939A,B. Roberts and Tonking 1933. Paterson 1934. Kauntze 1934. Roberts 1935,1939. Daubney 1936B. Fotheringham and Lewis 1937. Mulligan 1938. Dick and Lewis 1947. Piercy 1948,1951. Heisch 1950B. Binns 1951,1952. Wiley 1953. Philip 1954). TANGANYIKA (Dönitz 1905 stated that the R. sanguineus of Koch 1903 is a mistake in identity of R. appendiculatus. Neumann 19070,1910B,1911. Morstatt 1913. Loveridge 1933. Evans 1935). Loveridge 1928. Allen and SOUTHERN AFRICA: ANGOLA (Howard 1908. Gambles 1914. Sousa Dias 1950. Santos Dias 1950C. Fiedler 1953). MOZAMBIQUE (Howard 1908. Theiler 1943A. Santos Dias 1952D,H,1953B,1954C,H,1955A). NORTHERN RHODESIA (Neave 1912. Theiler and Robinson 1954). SOUTHERN RHODESIA (Jack 1921,1928,1936,1942. Lawrence 1938B,1942). NYASALAND (Old 1909. Neave 1912. De Meza 1918A. Lamborn 1929. Wilson 1943,1950B. Hardman 1951). BECHUANALAND (Few collections from Ngamiland, Ghanzi Well area; absent or rare in east: Theiler, correspondence). SOUTHWEST AFRICA (Sigwart 1915. Warburton 1922. Rare here; confined to northern areas: Theiler, correspondence). UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA (Neumann 1901,1911. Howard 1908. A. Theiler and Christy 1910. Dönitz 1910B. Moore 1912. Bedford 1920, 1926,1927,1932B. A. Theiler 1921. Cowdry 19250,1926A,1927. Curson 1928. Cooley 1934. Neitz and Thomas 1938. Neitz and du Toit 1938, Bedford and Graf 1939. Neitz, Alexander, and Mason 1941. Neitz 1943. Malherbe 1947. R. du Toit 19428,1947A,B. Neitz and Steyn 1947). OUTLYING ISLANDS: ZANZIBAR (Neumann 1911. Neave 1912. Aders 1917). REUNION (Gillard 1949). MAURITIUS (De Charmoy 1914,1915. Moutia and Mamet 1947). MADAGASCAR (Neumann 1911. Buck 1935, 1948A,C,1949. Buck and Lamberton 1946. Millot 1948. Hoogstraal 1953E). SEYCHELLES (Millot 1948). ARABIA: ADEN and ADEN PROTECTORATE (As R. macropis: Schulze 19360,1941. Hoogstraal, ms.). YEMEN (Franchini 1930. Mount 1953. Sanborn and Hoogstraal 1954. Hoogstraal, ms.). SAUDI ARABIA (Hoogstraal, ms. ms.). HOSTS Introduction The host lists available for R. s. sanguineus are vast and include numerous medium and large size mammals wherever the tick occurs. A listing of each host reported by various authors would be of no practical value. In addition to mammals, many larger ground-feeding birds and a few reptiles have been found infested. Dissimilarity of frequent hosts from area to area is apparent. Obviously, the numbers and kinds of available animals vary over the great area infested by this tick and different climatic and ecological conditions affect the parasite's life cycle and its relation to different hosts. In certain areas, physiological races specially adapted to feeding on certain hosts may exist. It appears well established (1) that domestic dogs are most frequently parasitized by R. s. sanguineus (though in tropical and southern Africa, Haemaphysalis 1. leachii is often more common on dogs), (2) that parasitism of large groundfeeding birds, hares, hedgehogs, and domestic sheep and goats is common, (3) that all wild carnivores within the tick's range are frequently though seldom heavily parasitized, and (4) that wild ruminants and man are only erratically chosen as hosts. Wild animals in zoological gardens and others living under domestic conditions, especially when in manmade buildings or enclosures, are particularly sus ceptible to attack by this parasite. Human Hosts Available information on human parasitism by the kennel tick is difficult to evaluate. From accounts of this species in rela tion to boutonneuse fever in northwestern Africa and in southern Europe, it would appear that human beings are more frequently bitten in these areas than elsewhere in Africa. There is, however, no conclusive evidence, as yet, that this is true. The considerable kennel tick populations in North Africa and the density and intimacy of human beings and their domestic animals may be responsible for the greater incidence of human infestation in this area, as suggested by Philip (1952). At the same time consideration should be given to the possible existence of a biological race with a greater predilection for feeding from man. In tropical and southern Africa, though isolated reports of parasitism of man exist, only Roberts (1933) and workers of his period in Kenya have published accounts of serious infestation. On one occasion boutonneuse fever, attributed to R. sanguineus but without biting specimens, was so prevalent that it caused disorganization of staffing arrangements of the Kenya and Uganda Railways. Roberts stated that when the land is covered by stand ing water these ticks seek shelter in houses and human inhabitants |