DISTRIBUTION IN THE SUDAN A. lepidum occurs in all Provinces except Northern, though it does arrive at the Wadi Halfa quarantine in Northern Province on cattle from the South (King 1926). All available Equatoria Province specimens originate from Eastern District and Torit District with the single exception of a male from a tiang at Terakeka (H. H. King legit), on the west bank of the Nile. The following Sudan locality records are all from cattle and all from the Sudan Government collection unless otherwise noted: Bahr el Ghazal: Lau and Yirol (SVS), Guar, Gogrial Sub district (giraffe; SVS), Aliab (buffalo; SVS). Akot (dying bull; SVS). Eight miles west of Yirol (head of greater bustard; SVS). I doubt that A. lepidum is widely established, if at all, in Bahr el Ghazal Province. Each collection consists of only a single male, except for one male and female from great herds of migrating cattle at Yirol, 22 April 1954 (SVS). Upper Nile: Pibor Post. Akobo. Maban (domestic cattle and goats; SVS). Pariak (SVS). Bor (SVS). Melut (mule). Rom (buffalo). Kaka (roan antelope). Er Renk (domestic sheep). Makier (SVS). Malakal (HH). Specimens from Tonga, that were identified as A. lepidum by Dönitz in 1912, were the basis of King's (1911) report of A. hebraeum variegatum from the Sudan according to Nuttall's notes for Lot 529 in his logbook in British Museum (Natural History). Singa Blue Nile: Hosh. Tibna. Roseires. Wad el Nail. (camel). Wad Medani (domestic cattle, mules, and camel; SGC HH. One feeding between toes of man, August 1954; Eisa El Minesi legit). Abu Hashim (camel). Sennar (camel). Lake Ras Amer (camel). Abu Zor. Hassa Heissa (camel; G. B. Thompson, correspondence). Sennar area (cheetah; Robinson 1926). Kosti (Gordon College collection). Kassala: Kassala (SVS). Darfur: Radom (SVS). Kordofan: Umm Berembeita (SCC). Northern and Khartoum: Specimens from cattle at the Wadi Halfa Quarantine station, from Ethiopian cattle at Khartoum, and from "A.O.F. native horses French West (?Equatorial) Africa7 (at Khartoum) are also present in Sudan Government collections. Sudan. See BIOLOGY below for further remarks on distribution in the DISTRIBUTION A. lepidum is an East African herbivore parasite and is not known to occur elsewhere. It becomes uncommon in Tanganyika but is more common locally northwards to the semidesert belt of the Sudan. EAST AFRICA: "EAST AFRICA" (Dönitz 1909). SUDAN (As A. hebraeum variegatum: King 1911. King 1926. Robinson 1926. Hoogstraal 1952A,1954B). Tonelli ETHIOPIA (Stella 1940). ERITREA (Franchini 1929D. Rondelli 1932C. Niro 1935. Stella 1940). ITALIAN SOMALILAND (Paoli 1916. Tonelli Rondelli 1926A. Franchini 1926A,1927, 1929,E. Niro 1935. Stella 1938A,1940. See also adult host records below). Note: Numerous reports of A. hebraeum from former Italian East African possessions probably refer in part to A. lepidum and in part to A. gemma. KENYA (Robinson 1926. Lewis 19310,1939A. Dick and Lewis 1947). UGANDA (Mettam 1932. Lewis 1939A. Wilson 1948A,1950, 1953). TANGANYIKA (Evans 1935. Cornell 1936. Lewis 1939A. J. B. Walker; small numbers; unpublished; see HOSTS below). OUTLYING ISLANDS: ZANZIBAR (Dönitz 1909. Robinson 1926). IMPORTED SPECIMENS: Cairo, EGYPT (Dönitz 1909). A. lepidum still arrives almost daily at the Cairo slaughterhouse on Sudan cattle but has not established itself in Egypt (Mason 1915, Hoogstraal 1952A). Almost every specimen is a male. Numerous males are also not infrequently found on traders' camels reaching the environs of Cairo from the Sudan. This species has been taken from imported cattle at East London, South Africa (Robinson 1926), but is definitely not established in the UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA (Theiler, correspondence). PALESTINE records (Bodenheimer 1937) probably also represent imported specimens. HOSTS A. lepidum is chiefly a cattle parasite with smaller domes tic animals and a scattering of wild herbivores as second choice. Large ground birds and carnivores are rarely attacked. A single adult has been taken feeding on man. Nymphs have been found on antelopes, bustards, and domestic cattle and dogs. The host predilection of immature stages is still poorly known. Domestic animals: All investigators listed above refer to cattle as hosts of this tick. Sudan records are almost the only ones available for other domestic animals. These include camels, horses, mules, goats, sheep, and dogs. Individual camels on occasion are heavily infested. Although camels appear to be rather important hosts in central Sudan, local camels in the north are not known to harbor this tick. Evans (1935) listed sheep and dogs as hosts in Tanganyika. Wild animals: Buffalo (Robinson 1926, King 1926, Wilson 1950, various Sudan records above). Rhinoceros (Wilson 1950). Grant's gazelle and hartebeest (Wilson 1950C, Sudan records above). Roan antelope eland, giraffe, tiang, wildcat, and great er bustard (various Sudan records above). Burchell's zebra and spotted hyena (Theiler, unpublished records). Cheetah (Robinson 1926). Ostrich (lo and lo in Hoogstraal collection, from "west of Afmadu", Somalia, 1952, Col. D. Davis legit). Of 49 Thom son's gazelles examined in Tanganyika, only two yielded eight males and one female A. lepidum; none were found on numerous other game animals examined there (J. B. Walker, unpublished). Man: Blue Nile Province record above. |