Schulze (1943B), referring to this species as Argas columbarum Shaw, 1793, a name usually considered as a nomen nudum, cited as his authority an apparently unpublished thesis on biology of the pigeon argas by one K. H. Muller (1939, Berlin), whose report I have not seen. Note, under remarks for A. persicus, the characters of the sub genus Argas and that A. reflexus is considered to be the type species of the genus and of the subgenus (page 74 ). A tick of questionable systematic status, A. hermanni (Audouin, 1827) is closely related to or identical with A. reflexus. When commencing the study of this group (Hoogstraal 1952A) it appeared that the two were valid species but subsequent investigation has left me with some doubts. Further observations are at present under way. IDENTIFICATION Remarks under identification of A. persicus apply. Note that the dorsal and ventral body periphery of A. reflexus is composed of irregular striations. Blue Nile: Gebelein (El Jebelein) (King 1911,1915), "Blue Nile districts" (Archibald 1923). Kassala: Erkowit (King 1926). Kordofan: Nuba Mountains (Ruttledge 1930). Sudan Government collections contain King's Gebelein collections, numerous laboratory reared progeny, and Ruttledge's specimens from Delami in the Nuba Mountains. Note the Egyptian records below, most of which are from the Southeastern Desert near the Sudan frontier in that part of Egypt administered by the Sudan Government. DISTRIBUTION Argas brumpti is a tick of drier East African areas that has spread into South and Southwest Africa, into that part of south eastern Egypt that is included in the Ethiopian Faunal Region, and some distance into the Western Desert of Egypt (Palearctic Faunal Region). The distribution has been mapped by Hoogstraal and Kaiser (1956). NORTH AFRICA: EGYPT (Hoogstraal 1952A. Garnham 1954,1955. Hoogstraal and Kaiser 1956. Davis and Mavros 1956B. Schmidt and Marx 1956). EAST AFRICA: SUDAN (King 1911,1915,1926. Archibald 1923. Ruttledge 1930. Hoogstraal 1952A,1954B. Hoogstraal and Kaiser 1956). ETHIOPIA (as Somaliland) (Neumann 1907B,1911,1922. Nuttall et al 1908. Stella 1938A,1939A,1940). KENYA (Neave 1912. Cunliffe 1914B. Anderson 19244. Warbur ton 1933. Walton 1950B. Garnham 1954,1955. Heisch 1954F). UGANDA (Hoogstraal and Kaiser 1956). SOUTHERN AFRICA: OVAMBOLAND, SOUTHWEST AFRICA (Theiler, un published). UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA and BECHUANALAND (Bedford 1936). HOSTS Available records indicate that in nature larvae feed on lizards and on a number of mammals inhabiting dry caves, lairs, and rock ledges. Nymphs and adults also attack lizards and almost any mammal that happens to stop near their retreat. Certain birds are acceptable as larval hosts in the laboratory but birds have not yet been found infested in nature. Larvae have been reared on guinea pigs and nymphs and adults on white mice. Larvae Animals on which larval A. brumpti have actually been found in nature are the following: Lizards: Agama colonorum in the Sudan (Ruttledge 1930). Uro mastix ocellatus and Agama a. spinosa in Southeastern Egypt (Hoogstraal and Kaiser 1956. Schmidt and Marx 1956). Gerrhosaurus validus in Transvaal (Bedford 1936). The gecko Tarentola a. annu laris in the Western Desert and in the Southeastern desert of Upper Egypt. Rock hyraxes: Heterohyrax brucei hoogstraali (Equatoria Province record above), Procavia sp. in Egypt (Hoogstraal 1952B), and Procavia capensis burtoni in Southeastern Egypt (Hoogstraal and Kaiser 1956). Rodents: Spiny mice, Acomys hystrella (Equatoria Province record above) and Acomys cahirinus dimidiatus in Southeastern Egypt (Hoogstraal and Kaiser 1956). Nymphs and Adults Specimens from the Kitui District of Kenya (Heisch 1954F) were determined by precipitin tests to have fed on porcupines and not on hyraxes, rats, or gerbils. Lizards and baboons were suspected as possible hosts. Subsequently, Garnham (1954) working in the same area found blood corpuscles of lizards in re cently fed ticks and noted that undigested corpuscles could be identified in the ticks at least a month after feeding. Garnham fed captive nymphs and adults on geckos and agamid lizards. Inasmuch as nymphs and adults feed rapidly, they are seldom found when the vertebrate host is examined. It may be assumed, however, that these stages probably feed on most of the larval hosts noted above. Walton (1950B) reported that Brumpt's argas attacks hyraxes and people who take refuge near hyrax dens in Kenya. Theiler's five female specimens from Ovamboland are from a mierkat, Cynictis penicillata cinderella. Africans of the Yatta Plains say that this tick (kitunu) feeds on human beings, elephants, buffalo, elands, and giraffes, and that specimens may be found in dust where big game animals roll (Cunliffe 1914B). I have seen three adult specimens from a lion's lair near Pusa, Kenya (BMNH collec tions). In Ethiopia, Brumpt found A. brumpti near porcupine bur rows, and reported its bite on himself (Nuttall et al 1908. Brumpt's Precis). King's (1915) Sudan records are from sparsely vegetated areas containing caves and crevices in which many kinds of animals rest. Uganda hosts are the African porcupine and the rock hyrax, Procavia capensis meneliki (Hoogstraal and Kaiser 1956). Experimental Hosts King (1926) reared larvae on the bare skin of the head of guinea fowl. Larvae failed to engorge on man, dogs, cats, goats, pigeons, doves, sparrows, or bats, though some attached to sparrows and pigeons. Nymphs and adults fed on rabbits and man. Ruttledge (1930) found no larvae on guinea fowl in the Nuba Moun tains and believed that lizards are the favorite larval host there. |