DISEASE RELATIONS 

 Unstudied. 



RMARKS 



This species is a member of the R. simus group (Zumpt 19A2A). 

 On superficial examination, males migHt be confused with either R. 

 s. sanguineus or R. s. simus , or, as noted below, they may easily 

 "Ee miskeyed. Once t*Ke basic characters are learned, the worker 

 recognizes this as a most distinct species, the female of which is 

 even more unique than the male. This note applies to material 

 from both southwestern and eastern Africa. 



The single Sudanese male agrees with numerous specimens from 

 Southwest Africa in all respects except the width and shape of 

 the exter.ioposterior jiincture of the adanal shields (see below). 

 Should further Sudanese specimens be consistent in this respect, 

 it is likely that they represent a subspecies or species differing 

 from R. distinctus of Southwest Africa. In this respect, the Mozanu 

 bique~specimen illustrated by Santos ^ia.s (1953C, figure 3) is 

 like the Sudanese specimen. The female accompanying Santos Dias' 

 male has a much longer scutum than those from Southwest Africa 

 and a much more narrowly pointed posterior margin. This fact 

 may support the premise that pop\ilations from Mozambique to the 

 Sudan represent an vindescribed species. Note that the female 

 herein illustrated (Figures 263 and 26^) is from Southwest Africa 

 and possibly not representative of Sudanese populations. Pre- 

 sumably, also, the immature specimens referred to as Rhipicephalus 

 sp, (page 778), which differ from R. distinctus , may be associated 

 with the single available Sudanese~raale . 



It is unfortunate that more time could not have been devoted 

 to detennining the actual status of the Sudanese male during the 

 course of the present study. Although we collected this specimen 

 in 194-8, it had been separated from the rest of the collection by 

 another member of the party and eventually sent to the I'hiseum of 

 Compeirative Zoology. Just as the present work was being completed. 

 Dr. J. Bequaert noted this specimen and kindly returned it to our 

 collection. 



_ 638 _ 



