96 Biology 



ORNITHODOROS MOUBATA. 



Period required for the Egg to hatch : eggs kept at 29° C. (Newstead, 

 1905, p. 1697) became flattened on the 6th day and the legs and 

 capitulum of the larva could be seen through the shell ; on the 9th day 

 the shell split and the larva was fully formed ; on the 10 — 15th day the 

 young nymph hatched out and on the 16th day the nymphs were 

 observed to escape anteriorly from the larval exuviae. Some hatched 

 out in 8 — 13 days. Wellman (1906-7) observed hatching after 15 days 

 in Angola. Dutton and Todd (1905, p. 124) observed hatching after 

 18 — 23 days in the Congo (temperature 19 - 5 — 32° C), whereas two or 

 three days more were required when the eggs were kept at 19 — 22° C. 

 (Laboratory experiments in Liverpool ; Newstead, Dutton and Todd, 

 1907.) 



Oviposition: as in other Argasidae we have studied (A. persicus, 

 O. savignyi, 0. lahorensis) the eggs are laid in batches, the eggs being 

 agglutinated in masses and deposited upon the sand or in hollows 

 burrowed out by the female. Dutton and Todd (1905 b, p. 125) 

 note that the number of eggs is increased when the female has 

 taken a large meal. They observed females which laid batches of 

 10 — 20 eggs at intervals of 1 — 2 weeks, although they were frequently 

 disturbed. The largest total number of eggs laid by one female was 

 139. Newstead (1905, p. 1697) placed a female in a bottle with sand in 

 which she rapidly buried herself after feeding. Placed at 29° C. in a 

 dry incubator, she laid three batches of eggs, oviposition taking place at 

 night. She rested upon the successive batches of eggs for a time ; the 

 batches numbered 17, 51, 26 (total 94), intervals of 3 and 8 days 

 elapsing between the layings. Wellman (1906) observed oviposition 

 in two females which were kept unfed in a dish with floor dust at the 

 bottom : Tick I oviposited after 57 days, laying 49 eggs ; she was 

 removed from these eggs and laid 29 more by the next day. Tick II 

 oviposited after 64 days, and laid three batches of eggs totalling 88. 

 According to Wellman (in MS.) a fecundated female lays no eggs until 

 she has had a meal of blood. Mollers (1907) saw a female lay 80 eggs, 

 she buried herself and the eggs were pushed out so that they appeared 

 upon the surface of the sand. 



Longevity : under natural conditions 0. moubata doubtless may live 

 for several years. Specimens have been kept alive, though unfed, for 



