Single instances of attack of human beings have been reported 

 from France (Buttner 19A9) and Iraq (Hubbard 1955; whether actual- 

 ly feeding not stated). During field work for the present stiody, 

 feeding specimens of H. excavatum have been taken from personnel 

 in Egypt, Turkey, and~Yemen IHoogstraal, ms.)« Ii^ Uzbekistan, 

 this tick (= H. anatolicum) often attaches to man (Gajdusek 1953). 



Apparently the only larger wild animals yet recorded as 

 hosts of the adult stage are gazelles in French Somaliland 

 (Hoogstraal 1953E) . 



Biological observations in Egypt thus fdr have been confined 

 to searching for naturally infested wild animals in the field, 

 keeping them alive in th^^ laboratory, and allowing ticks that 

 drop from them to molt to the next stage. Advilts reared from 

 n^Tiiphs taken from wild animals have been from the following hosts: 



Lizard 



Lesser Egyptian gerbil 



Greater Egyptian gerbil 



Fat sandrat 



Sundevall's jird 



Shaw's jird 



Spiny nouse 



Lesser Egyptian jerboa 



Hares 



Ac anthodactylus bo ski anus 

 Gerbillus g. gerbillus 

 Gerbillu s _£. pyra midum 

 Psammora^'S o. ooei 



)m^'S o, 



aesus 

 Meriones c. crassus 

 Meriones s. shawi 

 Aconws spp. 



lis j. jaculus 



Jin; 



Taci _^ _ 



Lepus capensis subs pp. 



(fairly common) 

 (common) 

 (common) 

 (fairly common) 

 (fairly common) 

 (fairly common) 

 (uncommon) 

 (uncommon) 

 (common) 



Colas-Belcour and Rageau (1951) report adults in Tunisia from 

 bvirrows of gerbils, jirds, and fat oandrats and nymphs from jirds. 

 They also found H. excavatum in burrows and on other rodents in 

 France. Adults of H. excavatum in rodent burrows are always newly 

 molted, remaining tliere before they venture forth to seek a larger 

 host (Hoogstraal, ms.). There is no evidence to consider gerbils 

 as common hosts of adults, as stated on the map of the American 

 Geographical Society (1954-); see also Erratum sheet). 



BIOLOGY 

 Life Cycle 



The several investigators who have reared H. excavatum in the 

 laboratory (Delpy 1952 in Iran; Daubney and SaiH 1951 in Egypt; 



_ AiV2 _ 



