[Found in Somaliland, by Brumpt, and in the Sudan. This tick attacks man as well as wild animals and produces a painful swelling according to King,[347] but as pointed out by that naturalist it probably relies on other than human food.—F. V. T.]
Argas chinche, Gervais, 1844.
This Acarus, a native of the temperate parts of Colombia, is very troublesome to man. It is probably identical with A. americanus, Packard, which infests domestic fowls and turkeys, and occasionally also cattle, and is differentiated from A. reflexus by the sculpturing of the cuticle.
Genus. Ornithodorus, Koch.
Neumann’s Synopsis of the Genus Ornithodorus is as follows:—
| 1 |  | Hypostome unarmed; integument in nymph stage and partly in adult spinulose | MÉGNINI. |
| Hypostome armed with recurved teeth; integument not spinulose | 2. | ||
| 2 |  | Camerostome with movable lateral flaps | TALAJE. |
| Camerostome without movable lateral flaps | 3. | ||
| 3 | | Anterior border of distal segments of legs with tubercles or festoons | 4. |
| Anterior border of segments of legs without tubercles or festoons | 8. | ||
| 4 | | Body not much contracted anteriorly | 5. |
| Body pointed anteriorly | 7. | ||
| 5 | | Tubercles of distal segments of legs higher than broad, distant | 6. |
| Festoons of distal segments of legs as broad as high, contiguous | pavimentosus. | ||
| 6 | | Eyes present | SAVIGNYI. |
| No eyes | MOUBATA. | ||
| 7 | | Eyes present | coriaceus. |
| No eyes | TURICATA. | ||
| 8 | | Integument with fine radiating wrinkles | lahorensis. |
| Integument granular | 9. | ||
| 9 | | Tarsi appearing bifid at apex | furcosus. |
| Tarsi not appearing bifid at apex | 10. | ||
| 10 |  | Tarsi of first pair of legs with three dorsal tubercles, of other legs with one | canestrinii. |
| Tarsi without dorsal tubercles or with only one | 11. | ||
| 11 | | Tarsi of last three pairs of legs with pronounced dorsal protuberance | tholozanii. |
| Tarsi of legs with indistinct dorsal protuberance | erraticus. |
Ornithodorus moubata, Murray, 1877.
An abundant African tick which is one of the carriers of the spirillum of African relapsing fever and can also carry Filaria perstans (Christy). Its body is oval, yellowish-brown when young, greenish-brown when mature. The integument is covered with mamillose tubercles. No eyes and the stout legs granular above, the tibiæ and tarsi fringed with tubercles on the upper side. Pocock[348] records it from Uganda and German East Africa, Congo and Angola, to Namaqualand and the Transvaal in the south. It is called bibo in Uganda, moubata in Angola, and tampan on the Lower Zambesi. It feeds on animals and birds as well as man. Its bite is very painful. This tick is found in native huts, living in cracks and crevices and in the thatch roofs.
The female tick infected with the spirillum transmits the infection to the eggs and the next generation. They appear to be able to live without food a long time, and probably live for years. They lay their eggs in masses on the ground or in crevices, and when they hatch they are in the nymph stage with four pairs of legs. O. moubata also occurs in Madagascar with recurrent fever (Lamoureux, Bull. Soc. Path, exot., 1913, vi, No. 3, pp. 146–149).