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ORNITHODOROS (ORNITHODOROS) MOUBATA (Murray, 1877).

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Without locality data (King 1911,1926. Maurice 1932. Kirk 1939). Maurice (1932) stated that in connection with the 1925 relapsing fever outbreak, 0. moubata had been found in "four Equatoria Province rest houses north of Minule".

The only eyeless tampans in Sudan Government collections are a few specimens from Wani Mika, collected by J. Dervish, 3 Novem ber 1925.

The three specimens collected from a hut at Liria in Novem ber of 1949 are the only ones that I have been able to find in the Sudan. A search of this and other Liria huts during January of 1952 failed to reveal additional material. During the same trip, preserved specimens were extensively exhibited to residents of many villages on the Juba Torit Tarangore track, and at Katire, Gilo, Yei, and Kajo Kaji. Although some persons who saw them professed to know the whereabouts of similar "dood", no tampans could be found.

DISTRIBUTION IN THE SUDAN

Bahr El Ghazal: From warthog burrows on Guar-Galual road near Guar, Gogrial Subdistrict, Tonj District, April, 1953, collected by E. T. M. Reid and P. Blasdale. Three burrows examined yielded one nymph in the first, two males and nine nymphs in the second, and two males and thirteen nymphs in the third. Mr. Thomas W. Chorley and the collectors are to be congratulated for

*In South Africa, called "The Hut Tampan" (Theiler 1952A,B).

these fine records of 0. moubata. Guar is situated at approximately 8050 N. and 28°30'E. The specimens were collected during the dry season; but for several months of the year this "Nile sponge" area is a vast flooded plain. It would be interesting to know the activity of the ticks at that time.

No evidence of 0. moubata has been discovered from buildings in Bahr El Ghazal Province, but search in these places has not been extensive enough to draw conclusions from this negative data.

DISTRIBUTION

0. moubata is widely distributed locally throughout East and northern South Africa, and extends into the drier part of Central Africa. A few specimens indicate its presence in West Africa. In South Africa and elsewhere, human activities have carried the eyeless tampan far from its former habitats. Assuming, for lack of evidence to the contrary, that burrow-inhabiting populations and hut inhabiting populations are identical species, it would appear that the distributional picture of the former populations, when it becomes better known, will be true indication of the prim itive range of 0. moubata.

Early collecting records were summarized by Neumann (1901) and by Merriman (1911). Some early records are under 0. savignyi caecus Neumann, 1901, a synonym of 0. moubata, and for a time 0. moubata and 0. savignyi were confused by Neumann and other writers. More recently, Leeson (1952) published a distribution map and (1953) additional notes that have been brought up to date herein (Figure 41).

The mapped distribution of tick-borne, human relapsing fever in the world (American Geographical Society 1955) contains numerous errors in the area devoted to the Ethiopian Faunal Region, where 0. moubata is the only known vector, except rarely the human louse. A large section of the Sudan is shaded to indicate the presence of both tick-borne and louse-borne spirochetes - which would infer the widespread range of 0. moubata in the Sudan. This is contrary to the available data, presented above. The same indications for the Yemen are based on uncritical repetition of

earlier errors in literature, even though subsequent references disclaim earlier assertions a frequent evil of uncritical

fact gathering from literature. Few outlines on the African map bear close relation to available facts.

WEST AFRICA: Not recorded by Simpson (1912A,B) from the northern or southern parts of Nigeria. Absent from northern Ni geria (McCullough 1925). No evidence to associate relapsing fever in northern Nigeria with 0. moubata (Caffrey 1926).

Not known from Liberia (Bequaert 1930A).

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Absent from thirteen French West Africa villages on the Niger (Kerrest, Gambier, and Bourou 1922A,B). Recorded south of Lake Chad (Neumann 1901) but not found in Chad localities by Le Gac (1931); 0. savignyi has been found in this general area (Alcock 1915) and Neumann may have misidentified his material. Apparent ly absent in French West Africa (Gouzien 1923). Absent around Dakar (Mathis 1928A,B. Mathis and Durieux 1932A,B. Mathis, Durieux, and Advier 1933,1934).

GOLD COAST: Appears to be absent according to Selwyn Clarke, Le Fanu, and Ingram (1923) and Ingram (1924); nevertheless a single nymph from Ashanti has been seen (Hoogstraal 1954C). SIERRA LEONE: Specimens seen by Hoogstraal (1954C).

It is difficult to reconcile the GOLD COAST and SIERRA LEONE records from British Museum (Natural History) collections with previous distributional concepts of 0. moubata, which have held that this species is absent from West Africa. Yet there is little reason to believe that the specimen labels are incorrect. A renewed search in these areas is indicated; otherwise one hesitates to draw conclusions from these unexpected records (Hoogstraal 1954C).

CENTRAL AFRICA: FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA (Blanchard 1913, 1914. Le Boeuf and Gambier 1918A,B. Rodhain 1919A. Guillet 1924. Blanchard and Laigret 1924. de Buen 1926. Rousselot 1951,1953B).

BELGIAN CONGO and RUANDA URUNDI (Livingston 1874, vol. 2, pp. 33 and 115. Neumann 1901,1911. Ross and Milne 1904. Dutton and Todd 1905A,B. Newstead 1905A,B,C,1906A,B. Massey 1908. Rodhain,

Pons, van den Branden, and Bequaert 1913. Roubaud and Van Saceghem 1916. Van Hoof 1917,1924. De Ruddere 1917. Rodhain 1919A,B,1920, 1922A,B,C. Todd 1919. Bequaert 1919,1930A,B,1931. van den Branden and Van Hoof 1922. Ghesquiere 1922. Van Saceghem 1923. van den Branden 1924. Olivier 1924. Olivier 1924. Seydel 1925. Schwetz 1927A,B,1932, 1933A,1942,1943. Van Hoof and Duke 1928. Flamand 1928. Schouteden Dubois 1931,1949A,B. Trolli 1931. Seraglia 1932. 1950. Jadin and Giroud 1950,1951. Giroud and Jadin 1950,1954,1955. Jadin 1951A,B. Himpe and Pierquin 1951. Pierquin and Niemegeers 1953. Jadin and Panier 1953. Davis and Burgdorfer 1954. Theiler and Robinson 1954. Burgdorfer and Davis 1954. Babudieri 1955*).

1928.

Pierquin

NOTE: Rageau (1953B) suggests the strong possibility of the tampan's presence in Cameroons. He states, on epidemiological grounds, that relapsing fever there is presumed to be tick-borne and that the most likely areas in which the tick may occur have not been well studied.

EAST AFRICA: SUDAN (Balfour 1906; tampan then not yet seen in the Sudan. King 1911,1926. Maurice 1932. Kirk 1939. Hoogstraal 1954C. See DISEASE RELATIONS and introductory paragraphs of DISTRIBUTION section).

ETHIOPIA (Brumpt 1908A. Bergsma 1928,1929. Giordano 1936. Absence of tampans at 2,200 meters altitude: Scaffidi 1937. Bruns 1937. Franchini 1937. Mennonna and Modugno 1937. Manson Bahr 1941,1942. Bertazzi 1952). ERITREA (Franchini 1929D,E. Niro 1935. Stella 1938A,1939A,1940). FRENCH SOMALILAND (No known records).7 BRITISH SOMALILAND (Brumpt 1901. Drake Brockman 1913,1915A,B,1920, identity in part confused with 0. savignyi. Donaldson 1926. Clark 1937, remarks questionable. Stella 1938A, 1940. Cullinan 1946. Anderson 1947. Heisch 1950A. Heisch and Furlong 1954. Davis and Burgdorfer 1954). ITALIAN SOMALILAND (Brumpt 1901,1908A. Paoli 1916. Rodino 1922. Reitani and Parisi 1923. Franchini 1925,1929C,E,1937. Bartolucci 1933. Mattei 1933. Niro 1935. Massa 1936A. Moise 1938,1950. Stella 1938A 1939A,1940. Lipparoni 1951,1954. Falcone 1952. Giordano 1953).

*Professor Babudieri (1955) states that he utilized the Itete strain procured from the Congo by Professor Geigy. This strain was col lected by Geigy and Mooser (1955) in Tanganyika.

KENYA (As 0. savignyi: Karsch 1878. Ross 1912. Neave 1912. Todd 1913. Anderson 1924A,B. Garnham 1926,1947. Mackie 1927. Kenya 1928. Lewis 1931A,C,1939A. Hynd 1945. Quin and Perkins 1946. Jepson 1947. Absence of Ornithodoros ticks: Garnham, Davies, Heisch, and Timms 1947. Heisch and Grainger 1950. Heisch 1950A,B,1954C,E. Walton 1950A,1953. Teesdale 1952. Bell 1953. Heisch and Furlong 1954. Geigy and Mooser 1955).

UGANDA (Christy 1903A,B,1904. Sambon 1903. Ross and Milne 1904. Hirst 1909,1917. Bruce et al 1911. 1913. Neumann 1922. Mettam 1932. Chorley 1940. Chorley 1943).

Pocock 1903. Johnston 1903.
Cook 1904. Ross 1906,1912.
Ross 1912. Neave 1912. Todd
Hargraves 1935. Hopkins and

TANGANYIKA (Neumann 1901. Sambon 1903. Sambon 1903. Christy 1904. Ross and Milne 1904. Dutton and Todd 1905A,B. Koch 1905,1906. Werner 1906. Mollers 1907. Todd 1913. Morstatt 1913,1914. Manson and Thornton 1919. (?Lester 1928). Loveridge 1928. Bequaert 1930A. Knuth 1938. Hawking 1941. Hawking 1941. Schulze 1941. Knowles and Terry 1950. Phipps 1950. Geigy 1951. Geigy and Burgdorfer 1951. Walton 1953. Davis and Burgdorfer 1954. Mooser and Weyer 1954. Smith 1955. Geigy and Mooser 1955. Babudieri 1955: see footnote under Belgian Congo).

Gamble 1914.
Gamble 1914.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: ANGOLA (Livingstone 1857, pp. 382-383. Murray 1877. As 0. savignyi: Neumann 1896. Neumann 1901. Pocock 1903. Calman 1905. Wellman 1905A,B,C,1906A,B,C,D,1907A,B. Dutton and Todd 1905A,B. Nuttall et al 1908. Rodhain 1919A. De Almeida and Rebelo 1928. Sousa Dias 1950. Santos Dias 1950C. Theiler and Robinson 1954). (Livingstone 1857, pp. 383, 628,629. Dowson 1895. Pocock 1903. Johnston 1903. Johnston 1903. Howard 1908, 1911. Amaral Leal and Sant'Anna 1909. Absent from Alto Molocue: McFarlane 1916. Neumann 1922. Marques 1943,1944. Santos Dias 1952H,1953B,1954H,K).

MOZAMBIQUE

NORTHERN RHODESIA (Neave 1911,1912. Wallace 1913. Lloyd 1913, 1915. Holmes 1953. Hoogstraal 1954C). SOUTHERN RHODESIA (Jack 1921,1928,1931, 1937, 1938,1942. Leeson 1952). NYASALAND (01d 1909. Neave 1912. De Meza 1918A. Lamborn 1924,1927,1939. Wilson 1943, 1950B. Hardman 1951).

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