Davis and Mavros (1956b) successfully reared larvae on guinea 

 pigs and njnnphs and adults on white mice. 



That the various stages of Brunpt's argas feed to an extreme 

 degree of repletion on vhite mice and guinea pigs has been noted 

 in Dr. G. E. Davis' and in our laboratories. This phenomenon is 

 exceptional in the genus Argas . 



BIOLOGY 



Life Cycle 



Ruttledge (1930) found larvae on lizards only in March, at 

 the end of the dry season. Larvae taken in Egypt were attached 

 to hosts in the winter and spring months of February, March, and 

 April; but it should be noted that these are the only months 

 during which we have extensively explored Upper Egypt, to which 

 area A. bruTipti is probably restricted here. 



At Khartoum, eggs were laid in the laboratory in March, April, 

 and October; some of these hatched about a month later (King 1915). 

 Females brood over their eggs until larvae emerge (confirmed by 

 Davis and Mavros 1956). as has been observed for many argasid spe^ 

 cies (Hoogstraal 19523). Hosts on which King fed immature stages 

 have been listed above. 



Gunliffe (191AB) reported egg laying from a single female as 

 follows: 53 eggs between 99 and 106 days after emergence, 66 eggs 

 between 118 and 125 days, 21 eggs between 152 and 156 days, and 

 18 eggs between l6l and 166 days; total 158 eggs. The female had 

 fed on a fowl on the 12th, 17th, and lii3rd day and had been fer- 

 tilized on the 13th, 17th, li^nd, 153th, and l68th day. Larvae 

 hatched from two egg batches 2^ to 27 days after the eggs had been 

 laid but refused to attach to a fowl and died. King (1915) ob- 

 served that larvae do not feed readily until they are about ten 

 days old. 



Subsequently, eggs were laid in the laboratory in batches of 

 about seventy eggs, about a month apart, after each feeding, throiigh 

 the cooler months of the year in Khartoum (King 1926). One male 

 fertilized at least three females. Four nyraphal stages were obu. 

 served. A certain mature female collected in July, 1918 was still 

 alive in December, 1926. 



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