336 GEORGE H. F. NUTTALL. 



Group II. 



Genus 9. Amblyomma. 



Generic characters : generally ornate, with eyes and vjith festoons. With long palps ; 

 basis capituli of variable form. The male without adanal shields, but small ventral 

 plaques are occasionally present close to the festoons. Spiracles subtriangular or comma- 

 shaped. 



There are eight species of Amblyomma recorded from the Congo. The males are 

 more readily identified than the females, and for practical purposes in the field they 

 can be determined by naked eye inspection alone or by means of a hand lens — the 

 species referred to are all large and ornate. A simple means of identification is afforded 

 hj the colour and nature of the ornamentation and these will serve our present purposes. 

 We describe the colours of the scutum as seen by us in living male specimens unless 

 the contrary is noted. The colours in Amblyomma and Aponomma usually take on a 

 metallic lustre when the ticks are preserved in alcohol ; they are frequently lost in 

 badly preserved specimens. 



(1) 



(2) 



Fig. 39. Hyalomma aegyUum (Linn.), larva 

 (Original, G.H.F.N. del.). 



A. variegatum (Fabricius, 1794). All the festoons and dark areas are black, 

 the light areas are reddish yellow bordered with green. When the ticks 

 die and dry, the dark areas turn trown, the lighter areas turn yellow to 

 orange. The eyes are bead-like in both sexes (fg. 40). A common species. 



A. splendidum, Giebel, 1877. Easily recognized by a circular bright orange 

 spot in the middle of its back ; the median festoon and dark parts are black 

 and the four festoons flanking the median one are white. The median light 

 areas of the scutum are violet, the lateral pinkish, but they turn yellow in 

 the dead dry tick, whilst the orange spot persists (fig. 41 and 42). Appears 

 to be common. 



