36 



MESSRS. W. F. COOPER AND L. E. ROBINSON ON 



o£ description. A very cursory inspection sufficed to show that the male was 

 quite unlike any tick which we had seen before, or whose description had, 

 to the best o£ our knowledge, been published hitherto. The female is quite 

 a typical Rhipicephalus, but the male is so peculiar that at first sight we 

 considered that it would justify the creation of a new genus to accommodate 

 it. The capitulum conforms to the generic characters, but the modifications 

 of the ventral chitinous plates or adanal shields, the caudal protuberance, and 

 the form of the 4th pair of legs, are remarkable. 



Rhipicephalus phthirioides, sp. n. 

 Specific characteristics. — Male. Body elongately elliptical, broadest at 

 middle of its length, posterior margin prolonged as a large caudal pro- 

 tuberance. Maximum length 3*5 mm., max. breadth 2*15 mm. Scutum 



Fig-. 1. 



Fiff. 2. 



Rhipicephalus phthirioides. — Capitulum of Male, x 60. 

 Fig. 1. Ventral surface. Fig. 2. Dorsal surface. 



dark reddish-brown, subrectangular, does not cover entire dorsal surface ; 

 anterior margin deeply indented for the reception of the capitulum ; cervical 

 furrows shallow, divergent posteriorly ; marginal furrows deficient ; at the 

 hinder end a short median furrow with shorter accessory furrows on either 

 side ; two irregular depressions on the middle of the scutum indicate the site 

 of the punctate areas ; eyes small, pale, flat, indistinct in certain aspects, 

 situated on the margin of the scutum, opposite the interspace between the 

 first and second pairs of legs ; punctuations small, shallow, irregular, widely 

 scattered ; few small hairs, chiefly on those portions of the back not 

 covered by the scutum. Ventral surface with pale scattered hairs ; genital 

 pore situated between the coxa3 of the second pair of legs; adanal shields 

 fused together in the median line anterior to anus and extending backwards 

 on either side of the latter as two salient spines ; stigmal plates almost 

 circular; caudal protuberance bears on its ventral surface a pronounced 



