RHIPICEPHALUS: BIONOMICS 605 



This species is the invertebrate host of P. bigeminum ; it is found in 

 Cape Colony, South East Africa, Togo Land, Cameroons, German East 

 Africa ; it is parasitic on cattle and antelopes ; it has been found on the 

 lizard Varanus saurus. Neumann recognizes the following variety : 



Variety compositns, Neumann. Scutum with more regular punctations, 

 which are almost absent on the border and the festoons ; ridges less 

 numerous and less marked. Ventral surface glabrous. Internal border 

 of the adanal plate concave ; accessory plates only slightly chitinized. 

 Basis capituli broader ; legs more delicate. Coxa I with shorter spines. 

 In the female there are no punctations on the border of the scutum. 

 This variety is found in the Soudan and in German East Africa ; it is 

 parasitic on the buffalo. 



Rhipicephalns evertsi, Neumann. Male. Scutum brown with very 

 numerous sub-equal almost contiguous punctations. Eyes spherical 

 and shining. Legs orange red. Marginal grooves extending to and 

 bounding the extreme festoons. Adanal plates nearly twice as long as 

 broad, posterior border round, internal border truncated. Anus situated 

 nearer the anterior end ; accessory plates small, triangular, spiniform 

 and often obsolete. Caudal appendage either absent or very short. 

 Spiracles twice as long as broad. Length 5 to 6 mm. ; width- 3 to 4 mm. 

 (Neumann) 



Female. Scutum as long or a little longer than broad, oval in shape ; 

 eyes situated towards the middle of the length. Cervical grooves 

 markedly curved ; no lateral grooves. Porose areas large and oval, diver- 

 gent anteriorly. Length 5 to 14 mm. ; width 3 to 9 mm. (Neumann) 



This tick is the invertebrate host of Piroplasma equi ; it is parasitic 

 on the horse and on cattle in Cape Colony, the Transvaal, Togo Land 

 and German East Africa. 



There are two distinct types of life processes to be noted in the ticks 

 of the genus Rhipicephalns, one represented by Rhipicephalns sanguinens 

 and the other by Rhipicephalns evertsi. In the first 

 type, the commoner of the two, the tick requires three 

 distinct hosts, but these need not necessarily be the cephalus 

 same species of animal. The larva of sangiiiiieus, the 

 common dog tick, on becoming replete with blood leaves its host ; the 

 nymph and adult behave in the same way. The larva may feed on a 

 dog, the nymph on a jackal and the adult on a horse. The other type 

 of life history is exemplified by R. evertsi, the horse tick of South Africa. 

 Its larva on becoming replete does not drop off but moults on the host ; 

 the nymph feeds on the same host and when replete with blood drops 



