Ecology 



A. brtiripti lives in areas of low rainfall (Ovamboland, Kala- 

 hari ,''NuBa~ITountains , Egypt) or in dry niches within areas of 

 comparatively high rainfall (Kenya, southern Sudan, Transvaal). 

 It rests in caves, lairs, or dens, where it feeds on either 

 permanent mammal residents or on visiting mammals or lizards, or 

 it may hide xander rocks from whence it emerges to feed on passing 

 lizards or mammals. 



The original Ethiopian specimens were found in dust under rock 

 ledges in a dry streambed visited by porcupines (Nuttall et al 1908. 

 Brumpt's Precis). It was said that these advilts wandered about at 

 night but not during the day. King (1915) found specimens in caves 

 and crevices where they were living among debris of soil and rotting 

 leaves and twigs. One of Bedford's (1936) individuals was hiding 

 under a stone. In Southeastern Egypt we have found from one to 23 

 nymphs and adults together a millimeter or two below the surface of 

 fine, dry sand in small caves and in holes in rocky hillsides. 

 These areas range from barren desert bordering wadis with a little 

 vegetation to arid parkland at the base of mountains facing the 

 Red Sea. 



In the lowlying coiontry north of Kit\ii, Kenya, Heisch {l^^/^F) 

 observed immobile specimens on fine, brown earth xmder large bovQ- 

 ders on a peneplane of red, sandy soil covered by thornbush. Dr. 

 Heisch has informed me (conversation) that the loose soil below 

 these rocks is probably too sparse for burrowing by the ticks. He 

 and Dr. Garnham, who accompanied him on a collecting trip to this 

 area, have also told me that the ticks rest in rock crevices or 

 between rock layers where there is little or no accumulation of 

 soil. It is of interest to learn from information furnished Girn- 

 liffe (191AB) for other parts of East Africa that Brumpt's argas 

 burrows in the dust of termite raoimds where large game animals 

 roll. 



Biologically, therefore, in its feeding and resting habits, 

 k. br\impti appears to show tendencies towards certain intermediate 

 characters between typical Argas ticks and typical Ornithodoros 

 ticks. Argas ticks in all stages are considered typically as fairly 

 host-specific parasites of birds or of bats and as ticks that nor- 



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