In Uganda, after a series of dry years, the numbers of R. 

 appendiciilatus decrease to the point where East Coast fever xs not 

 maintained in cattle in endemic form. When the disease is intro- 

 duced during the great increase of the species in abnormally wet 

 years, the mortality of the novt- susceptible cattle may be serious 

 (Wilson 1%8A) . It has been suggested that this tick shoiild not 

 be entirely eradicated in order to maintain its hosts' immunity 

 to East Coast fever. 



By way of sviraming up the ecology and distribution of the brown 

 ear-tick, Wilson (1953) has designated the "R. appendiculatus _ A. 

 variegatum association" of East and Centra] ^rica. This inter-" 

 esting and important contribution is reviewed herein under A. 

 variegattim (cf . page 27A; also R. pravus , page ) and should 

 by all means be consulted by anyone concerned with the biology of 

 the brown ear-tick. Reichenow (1941A,B), from his own observa- 

 tions in Tanganyika, has also stressed the practical importance 

 of knowing the ecology and distribution of this parasite. 



The red- billed oxpecker, or tickbird, Buphagus erythrorhyn - 

 chus (Stanley) , which attends all the larger nerbivores except 

 the elephant and the hippopotamus, has been shown by Moreau (1933) 

 to be a predator of some importance on R. appendiculatus and on 

 other economically important ticks. Of the 5^ tickbirds examined 

 in Tanganyika, almost 500 brown ear- ticks were found in the stom- 

 ach of thirty. The number of brown ear-ticks per stomach ranged 

 from one to 96. 



In Kenya, van Someren (1951) removed 59 adult and nymphal 

 brown ear-ticks from the stomachs of eight of the same birds that 

 he examined; none were found in four others of the same kind. He 

 found 112 njonphs and adults in stomachs of all seven specimens 

 of B, a. africanus that he examined in Kenya. 



A further discussion of birds feeding on ticks is presented 

 under biology of A. variegatum , page 275. 



The chalcid wasp parasite Hunterellus hookeri Howard, 1908, 

 has been found infesting n^iaphal brown ear-ticks removed from 

 hares, Lepus capensis subsp., in South Africa (Cooley 193A-). 

 Cooley did not find this wasp in ticks in Kenya (Price 19^8) 

 but Philip (195^) has found it in nymphal kennel ticks there. 

 For a brief discussion of this wasp, see biology of R. s. 

 sanguineus , pages 710 to 712. 



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