244 Genus Ixodes 



41. IXODES TASMANI Neumann, 1899. 



Figs. 239 (Neumann) and 240 (original). 

 Lit. and Icon. : Neumann, 1899, pp. 144, 145, Fig. 20 (reproduced). 



Male : unknown. 



Female (unfed): Body flat, oval, reddish yellow, the scutum, capi- 

 tulum and legs being darker; 3 - 2 x 1*6 mm. (greatest breadth on a line 

 with coxae III). Dorsum with complete marginal groove, limiting a 

 marginal fold of uniform width. When gorged, the body is ovoid, 

 swollen dorsally, almost as thick as broad, broader behind, 10 x 7 mm., 

 yellowish brown, glabrous, or bearing short hairs. Integument trans- 

 versely striated, covered by small, regularly disposed varrucosities. 

 Scutum 1 slightly broader (1*5 mm.) than long, the antero-lateral borders 

 divergent, subrectilinear, with rounded lateral angles, and short, wavy 

 postero-lateral borders soon disappearing in the broadly rounded posterior 

 border; cervical grooves shallow, divergent; many fine and equal 

 punctations ; no lateral grooves. The dorsum shows traces of the usual 

 grooves. Venter: vulva narrow, facing the antero-internal angle of 

 coxae III ; sexual grooves divergent, very long, extending slightly 

 over on to the dorsum. Anus toward the posterior third ; anal grooves 

 parallel, then approaching each other slightly behind, where they also 

 extend over on to the dorsum. Spiracles whitish, transversely oval. 

 Capitulum short (750 /t), base twice as broad as long, hexagonal (due, 

 apparently, to the fusion of the enlarged basal article of the palp with 

 the basis capituli) ; porose areas large, oval, close together. Digit ? 

 Hypostome (Fig. 239 B) markedly spatulate, with broad corona, bearing 

 3 1 3 files of 9-10 teeth, of about equal size in each transverse row, 

 decreasing in size from in front backward, and continued by 4-5 rows 

 of blunt and salient teeth. Palps flattened, much separated and narrow 

 at their base, very broad at their distal half; the articulations between 

 articles 2-3 obsolete, article 1 forming a curious structure surrounding 

 the hypostome. Legs of medium length, grouped, in gorged specimens, 

 on the anterior quarter of the body, the tips of the fourth pair scarcely 

 extend beyond the spiracles, the movable articles being cylindrical. 

 Coxae trenchant ; tarsi almost identical with those of I. ornithorhynchi 

 (Fig. 237). Claws short ; pad almost reaching their free extremities. 



1 There is a noticeable variation in the shape of the scutum in the types. Those 

 collected by Verreaux in 1843 (Paris Mus.) have a scutum very much as figured by 

 Neumann (see Fig. 239/1). 



