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*Also known as the Brown Dog-tick or the Tropical Brown Dog-tick (Theiler 1952A,B).

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According to King (1926), R. sanguineus "occurs throughout the country but is relatively scarce in the south .. this is the com mon dog tick of the northern and central Provinces". This statement agrees with the present observations. Although the kennel tick may be very common locally on dogs in Equatoria Province, it is also frequently absent or rare in this Province. Its occurrence and numbers on wild animals is equally as erratic as on domestic dogs. Reasons for this variability of abundance are poorly understood and suggest an interesting topic for local investigation.

Localities, hosts, and sources of specimens that have been exam ined are the following:

Bahr El Ghazal: "Northern part of Province" (Dog; SVS). Fanjak (cattle and dogs; SVS, HH). Galual-Nyang Forest (dogs, hedgehogs, and hares; SVS, HH). Near Kordofan border (greater bustard; SVS). Kenisa (baboon; BM (NH)). Near Yirol (domestic dogs; SVS).

Upper Nile: Makier (cattle; SVS). Malakal (sheep, goats, and dogs; fairly common on cattle; SVS, HH). Melut (man; SGC). Akobo Post (lion; SGC). Bor (dogs and horse; SGC). Maban (sheep and lesser bustard; SVS). Ler (dogs; SVS).

Blue Nile: Wad Medani (cattle, sheep, dogs, goats, and horses; SGC, HH. Herpestes ichneumon and large vulture; SGC). Hodft and Hosh (hedgehogs; SGC). Singa (camels; SGC).

Kordofan: Heiban (hedgehogs; SGC). Jebel Tabuli (kudu; SGC). El Obeid (cattle; SVS). Koalib Hills (fox and bustard, Lissotis melanogaster; SGC). Tabanga (domestic pigs; SGC). Delami (hare and hedgehog; SGC). "Western Kordofan" (sheep; SVS).

Darfur: Radom (cattle; SVS). Sibdo (horse; SVS). Muhagariya (sheep; SVS). Zalingei (donkey; SVS). Kulme (Vulpes pallida; BMNH). Fasher (dog and goat; SVS). Nyala (dog; SVS). 60 miles north of Safaha (sheep; SVS).

Khartoum: Khartoum (dogs; Balfour 1911F. Kite, secretary bird in zoo, dog, and fox; SGC. Sheep, camels, horses, and goats; HH).

Kassala: Sinkat (hare; BMNH. Dogs; SVS). Port Sudan (dogs; SVS, BMNH. As R. macropis: As R. macropis: Schulze 1936. Donkeys; SVS). Kassala (dogs, sheep, horses, goats, and camels; SVS). Tokar (dogs; SVS).

Northern: Wadi Halfa and Atbara (dogs; SGC, HH). Abu Hamed (fox, hare, dogs, and camels; HH). Jebel Barkal (fox; Sudan National Museum).

so.

DISTRIBUTION

Although R. sanguineus was first described from France and authors have shown considerable hesitancy over considering this a typically African tick, there is no apparent reason for not doing The genus Rhipicephalus is well established as a tightlybound group with Africa as its center of dispersal. The species sanguineus is so typical of the genus that it is assumed that this is an African tick whose predilection for domestic dogs and possibly for birds has facilitated its spread throughout the warmer parts of the world.

Cooley (1946) states that R. sanguineus is probably the most widely distributed tick species in the world. With the possible exception of the fowl argas, Argas persicus, this is undoubtedly true. The kennel tick now inhabits practically all countries between 50°N. and about 35°S. and is known frequently to spread rapidly once it becomes established in a new area.

Notwithstanding their wide distribution and domestic habitats, R. sanguineus populations vary considerably in density from one area to another. This tick gradually increases in number from southern Sudan, where it is frequently encountered but seldom exceedingly numerous, through central and northern Sudan to Lower Egypt in which areas it is usually a most ubiquitous pest. Although this picture appears to contradict the tick's preference for a warm, humid climate, it is undoubtedly influenced by human cultural patterns, man-made microhabits such as buildings and irrigated fields, and concentration of human and animal populations.

The known distribution of R. sanguineus up to January 1949, has been mapped by Leeson (1951). African areas left unmarked on this map are far too extensive. The American Geographical Society's (1954) map of the distribution of the kennel tick also contains many gaps in Africa as well as in other parts of the world where this tick exists. A literature survey and examina tion of British Museum (Natural History) collections, the Onderstepoort records, and our collection shows that this species is present almost everywhere in Africa except possibly in the most extreme situations of the great deserts of northern and southwestern Africa and perhaps in a few of the most isolated oases.

The following distributional records are for continental Africa, its outlying islands, and that part of Arabia within the Ethiopian Faunal Region, only.

NORTH AFRICA: EGYPT (As Ixodes linnaei: Savignyi 1826 and Audouin 1827. Neumann 1901,1911. Dönitz 1905,1910B. Samson 1908. Mason 1915,1916. Nuttall 1915. Bodenheimer and Theodor 1929. Carpano 1936. Said 1948. Hoogstraal, Wassif, and Kaiser 1955. Hurlbut 1956).

LIBYA (Franchini 1927,1928,1929A,B. Tonelli-Rondelli 1930A, 1932D. Giordano and Nastasi 1935. Giordano and Giordano 1935. Garibaldi 1935. Stella 1938. Enigk 1943. Bartone 1950).

TUNISIA (Neumann 1911. Galli-Valerio 1911A. Chatton and Blanc 1916A,B,1917,1918. Brumpt 1919. Durand and Conseil 1930, 1931. Durand 1931,1932A,B. Anderson 1935. Anderson and Sicart 1937. Alexander, Mason, and Neitz 1939. Colas-Belcour and Rageau 1951).

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