tgALCMMA AB:}YPTIIM (Linne, 1758). 

 (Figures 190 to 193) 

 THE TORTOISE HYALCMMA 



The much mooted name H. aegyptiiun has been frequently used 

 as a "catchall" by workers~in many countries for a number of spe- 

 cies. Consequently much literature referring to Hyalomma ticks 

 has been hopelessly confused, even to the present day. 



King (1926) lumped all Sudan species under the name H. 

 aegyptium *, as did most other workers on African and Near'Eastern 

 ticks of his time. H. aegyptium (Linne, 17$8) is now recognized 

 as a distinct parasite of tortoises in the Mediterranean area and 

 Near East. In Russia it is confined to Crimea, Georgia, Armenia, 

 the Caiocasus, Azerbaijan, Turkmen, Uzbek, and Tadzhik (Pomerantzev 

 1950). It is common in many parts of Asia Minor (Hoogstraal, ms.) 

 and occurs in Afghanistan (Anastos 195A) . 



The tortoise hysdomma does not occur in the Sudan, elsewhere 

 in tropical or southern Africa, or in Europe away from the Medi- 

 terranean and Black Sea areas. Although originally described from 

 Egypt, where tortoises are said to have been numerous on the Medi- 

 terranean littoral, H. aegyptium apparently is now extinct here. 

 In present-day Egypt7 tortoises occur only a few miles east of 

 the Libyan border - extremely rarely as far as seventy miles east 

 of Libya - and in Sinai a few miles west of Palestine. No ticks 

 have been found on recent Egyptian tortoises, except on specimens 

 from Palestine in Cairo pet-shops. 



Tortoises are the hosts of predilection of adult H. ae^ptium . 

 Ebcceptionally, lizards, hares, and hedgehogs are attacTced . While 

 other mammals may be infested rarely, long lists of various hosts 

 for this tick are all erroneous, based as they are on old records 

 in which all species were lumped under the name H. aegyptium . In 



*With reference to reports of "H. aegyptium " from the Siiian, it 

 shoiild be noted that the actual^tick species with which O'Farrell 

 (1913A,B), did his interesting work on an entomogenus trypanosome, 

 Crithidia ( ?Herpetomonas ) hyalommae , cannot now be determined. 



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