EQUATORIA PROVINCE

REPTILIA*

OPHIDIA (SNAKES)

NAJA MELANOLEUCA Hallowell.

Black Cobra.

NAJA HAJE Linne. Egyptian Cobra.

PYTHON REGIUS Shaw. Regal Python.

DENDROASPIS P. POLYLEPIS (Guenther). Black Mamba.

BOAEDON L. LINEATUS Dumeril and Bibron. Common House Snake.

Small numbers of adults of the snake tick, Aponomma latum, were found on individual hosts of the above species; nymphs were also found on the black cobra. All specimens were taken during the dry season at Torit except that from Boaedon, which was collected during the rainy season at Katire in the forested Imatong Mountains. These hosts are all large, poisonous snakes. Numerous specimens of the same and smaller snakes examined in Torit and other Districts of Equatoria were free of ticks. Ticks are usual ly found between the host's dorsal scales, especially just behind the neck, sometimes on the head, rarely on the venter. In exceptional instances, the host may be literally covered with ticks of this species.

LACERTILIA (LIZARDS)

VARANUS N. NILOTICUS Laurenti. Nilotic Monitor or Waran.

*Reptiles were identified by Dr. K. P. Schmidt, Emeritus Chief Curator of Zoology, Chicago Natural History Museum. Information on the same and other reptiles mentioned in the text was kindly given by Mr. A. Loveridge, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, who has published a paper on snakes of Torit District (Sudan Notes and Records, 1955).

This large lizard is common in Equatoria Province, especially near streams and in association with trees. A few among many specimens examined yielded small to moderate numbers of nymphs and adults of the monitor lizard tick, Aponomma exornatum. A single lizard yielded a nymphal Amblyomma nuttalli and four nymphs and a male of A. marmoreum (group). The incidence of infestation is not high. Infested monitors were found in Torit, Juba, and Yei Districts.

VARANUS E. EXANTHEMATICUS Bosc. Northern Savannah Monitor.

This monitor is less common than niloticus and fewer were examined. Two Torit hosts yielded a nymphal A. nuttalli during the dry season and a number of adults and nymphs of Aponomma exornatum during the rainy season.

CHAMELEO G. GRACILIS Hallowell. Graceful Chamelon.

A nymph of the elephant amblyomma, A. tholloni was found on a chameleon at Lokila. Many other chameleons and hundreds of smaller lizards examined in eastern Equatoria Profince were free of ticks.

CHELONIA (TORTOISES)

KINIXYS B. BELLIANA Gray. Bell's Eastern Hinged Tortoise.

Land tortoises are fairly common on the east bank of Equatoria Province and are not infrequently tick infested. Tortoises must be anesthesized or killed in order to find ticks attached deep in the axillae, otherwise specimens are easily overlooked. A pair of adult H. truncatum was found on a Juba tortoise, another yielded numerous adults and nymphs of A. marmoreum (group). The latter species was found in small numbers on a Torit tortoise, and at Farajok and near Meridi two tortoises bearing a few adults of A. nuttalli were taken.

AVES

FRANCOLINUS CLAPPERTONI GEDGII Grant. Uganda Clapperton Francolin

These common savannah birds were one of our chief articles of diet and hundreds were rapidly examined for ticks. The three specimens found, all from Torit during the dry season, were a nymph of A. nuttalli, another of A. cohaerens (identification questionable), and a female H. hoodi hoodi.

As many of these common savannah birds as of those mentioned above were briefly examined with equally unspectacular results. Only nymphs were found, all during the month of December. These were one A. cohaerens (identification questionable) at Ikoto, five A. variegatum at Kapoeta, and one Hyalomma sp. at Torit.

GUTTERA EDOUARDI SETHSMITHI Neumann.

Blue-spotted Forest Guinea Fowl

These handsome birds are confined to forest patches and open gallery forests and therefore very localized in the Sudan. The two specimens examined in Lotti Forest in April yielded eleven larvae and sixteen nymphs of H. parmata.

SPHENORHYNCHUS ABDIMII (Lichtenstein). Abdim's Stork

Of several specimens examined at Torit during the dry season, one yielded two nymphs of H. hoodi hoodi and another two nymphs of A. variegatum and a male R. s. sanguineus. Large flocks of Abdim's storks feed in durra fields In Torit District, but they appear to be migrants or to have a wide range of feeding areas.

*Domestic birds are listed with DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Bird identifica tions were provided by Dr. A. L. Rand, Chief Curator of Zoology, Chicago Natural History Museum, who also kindly checked references to birds mentioned elsewhere in the text.