Acontias pl\rabeus , a blind, limbless, viviparous lizard has 

 been listed as a South African host (Bedford 1936). 



A single female in BM(NH) collections was taken with A. exor - 

 natum from Varanus e. albigularis , the coastal monitor lizard, in 

 Kenya, and another Temale has been noted from a porcupine in Zulu- 

 land (Hoogstraal 195AC). 



BIOLOGY 



The snake tick sometimes occurs in great numbers on a single 

 host. Loveridge (1923C) states: "'This snake ( Pasypeltis scabra ) 

 was literally covered with ticks, 75 of which I collected"'. Lar- 

 vae, nymphs and adiilts are often taken from a single host (Lewis 

 193^, Rageau 1953B). 



Specimens are usually found between the host's dorsal scales, 

 especially just behind the neck, sometimes on the head, rarely on 

 the venter. 



DISEASE RELATIONS 

 Unstudied. 



REMARKS 



The most complete recent work on this species is by Theiler 

 (1945B). The taxonomic review shows that A. laeve Neumann, 1899, 

 is actually a non African species and that A . latum (Koch, 18^A) 

 has priority for the African species. Immature stages were des- 

 cribed and illustrated and adults were redescribed and illustrated 

 in the same study. 



Should specimens agreeing with characters of this species but 

 having a very wide, quadrate body outline be encountered in the 

 Svidan, they sho\ild be checked (cf . Theiler 194.5B) for A. transversale 

 Lucas, 1844, the python tick, which Theiler states (correspondence ) 

 may be expected to occur in this area. The male of A. transversale 

 lacks an anal groove and is incompletely chitinized on the posterior 



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