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IDENTIFICATION

Females are readily separated from those of the only other known bat infesting species of this genus, I. vespertilionis by the fact that I. simplex has normal-length legs, although the last pair is longer than usual (all pairs of legs of I. vespertilionis are exceedingly long). Anal grooves are short and divergent. The scutum is slightly longer than broad, has gently curved posterolateral margins, and converging anterolateral margins; widely scattered, subequal punctations, shallow cervical grooves, no lateral grooves; its color is brownish, reddish, or yellowish. The basis capituli is triangular, without cornua or auriculae. Coxae are flat and without spurs. For a fuller description, see Arthur (1956A).

Males are unknown. Immature stages are described by Arthur (1956).

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

Figures 232 and 233, o, dorsal and ventral views Figures 234 and 235, g, dorsal and ventral views

IXODES VESPERTILIONIS

English specimens.

loaned by British Museum (Natural History). g loaned by Dr. D.R. Arthur

PLATE LXVII

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[blocks in formation]

This is the only specimen of I. vespertilionis known from the

Sudan.

DISTRIBUTION

I. vespertilionis is widely distributed in the Old World and is known from scattered areas in Africa where search will probably reveal numerous new locality records.

The distribution of I. vespertilionis was first summarized by Nuttall and Warburton (1911) and later, more extensively, by Neumann (1916). The present distributional summary is based on the latter paper, with only subsequent reports added. More recently, Arthur (1956A) has brought these records up to date.

Africa

NORTH AFRICA: ALGERIA (Neumann 1916. Hirst 1916. Nuttall 1916. Senevet 1937). MOROCCO (Arthur 1956A).

EAST AFRICA: SUDAN (Hoogstraal 1954B. Arthur 1956A).

UGANDA (Arthur 1956A). KENYA (HH collecting in crater of Mt. Menengai).

SOUTHERN AFRICA: UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA (Arthur 1956A. See NOTE five paragraphs below.

ed:

Schulze 1927.

Europe

GIBRALTAR (Neumann 1916). PORTUGAL (Hirst 1916). SPAIN (Neumann 1916. Schulze 1927. Gil Collado 1936, 1938,1948). FRANCE (Neumann 1916. Hirst 1916. Jeannel 1926. Schulze 1927. Senevet 1937. Cooreman 1954A,B. Lamontellerie 1954. Arthur 1956A). GER MANY (Neumann 1916. Schulze 1923B,1944B. Schulze and Schlottke 1929) SWITZERLAND (Arthur 1956A). AUSTRIA (Neumann 1916. Nuttall 1916). BRITISH ISLES (Neumann 1916. Nuttall 1916. Hirst 1916. MacLeod 1939. Arthur 1948,1953A,1956A). BELGIUM (Bequaert 1913. Schmitz and Bequaert 1914. Leruth 1939B. Cooreman 1951). LUXEM BURG (Leruth 1939B). NETHERLANDS (van Eyndhoven 1939,1953). ITALY (Neumann 1916. Tonelli Rondelli 1930A). SARDINIA (Kohls, correspondence). GREECE (Schulze 1936. Pandazis 1947. Arthur 1956A). HUNGARY (Neumann 1916. Hirst 1916. Kotlan 1921A,B). CZECHOSLOVAKIA (Neumann 1910C. Rosicky 1953). BULGARIA (Schulze 1927). YUGOSLAVIA (Neumann 1916. Oswald 1939). ROMANIA (Leruth 1939A. Cooreman 1951). CRETE (Hirst 1916).

NOTE: Schulze (1927) listed a nymph from Rhinolophus hipposiderus (sic) (?ferrum equinum) at "Zelebor" (Europe). (?ferrum-equinum)

Near East

TURKEY (Arthur 1956A). PALESTINE (Arthur 1956A). IRAN (Olenev 1927,1931. Pomerantzev 1937,1950). RUSSIA (Olenev 1927, 1929,1931. Pomerantzev 1937,1950. Karpov and Popov 1944).

Far East

JAPAN (From Sawada, Myiagi, Honshu, A. J. Nicholson legit:
Kohls, correspondence).

NOTE: I. vespertilionis has been reported from Australia by Nuttall and Warburton (1911) and quoted by Neumann (1916), Ferguson (1925), and Leruth (19398), but not subsequently verified. The host was listed as Vesperugo tricolor. The only ves pertilionid bat known to have the specific name tricolor is Myotis tricolor* of East and South Africa. The collecting locality for

*I am indebted to C. C. Sanborn, Curator of Mammals at Chicago Natural History Museum, and an outstanding authority on bats, for checking the bat host names in this section.

1

the tick is Kingwilliamstown. There is a city of this name in Cape Province, South Africa but, so far as known, none in Aus tralia. The specimen came from the Rothschild collection, a frequent source of South African material for Nuttall in the early 1900s. With little hesitation, therefore, this may be considered to be a South African record. Fielding (1926) recorded I. vespertilionis from North Queensland bats, but this appears to be merely a repetition of the earlier literature statement. Taylor and Murray (1946, p. 41) state that this spe cies is "doubtfully Australian" and the "original specimen is unfortunately lost".

HOST'S

All authors list bats except for the probably adventitious Hungarian record from a domestic dog (Kotlan 1921A,B). Immature stages and females are usually found on bats; males only in caves inhabited by bats.

The host of only one of the few specimens originating in Africa has been reported. Nuttall's (1916) Algerian specimen came from Pipistrellus ( Vespertilio) kuhlii. Vespertilio) kuhlii. The host number of the specimen collected in Torit was inadvertently not included in the vial. The nymphs taken in Kenya (HH) were found, together with the holotype female of Ixodes simplex africanus, on Miniop terus natalensis arenarius. So far as known, there are no other records of both I. vespertilionis and I. simplex subspp. from a single collection. Myotis tricolor of South Africa has been dis cussed in the NOTE above. Hipposideros caffer is also a host in South Africa (Arthur 1956A).

Genera of European bats reported by Neumann (1916) are Rhino lophus, Plecotus, Pipistrellus, and Myotis. The most commonly listed hosts are R. ferrum equinum and R. hipposideros; the former species is also the host of the Japanese specimen reported by Kohls (correspondence). A few other Rhinolophus species are also mentioned by various authors.

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