452 



BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



This species is subject to great variation in appearance, a fact which 

 has resulted in different specimens being- described as representing 

 distinct species. 



It has been collected from man, cattle, horses, deer, roe deer, she'ep, 

 fallow deer, and rhinoceros, and has a very wide geographical distri- 

 bution. It is recorded in this country for California, Texas, and New 

 Mexico, and also from various countries in Europe and Asia. 



The description given above is, with slight modifications, a direct 

 translation from Neumann. Two sendings which have recently 

 reached us — one from horses in Tennessee, the other from cattle in 



Fig. 179.— Ventral view of same. 



Oklahoma — show exceedingly slight variations from the characters 

 cited by Neumann. We do not, however, feel justified in describing 

 them as distinct from D. reticulatus. 



The Moose Tick {Dermacentor variegatus) 

 (Figs. 178-185.) 



Specific diagnosis. — Dermacentor: Stigmal plate coarsely punctate. 



Male. — Body subtriangular, sides nearly straight, posterior end rounded, 6.5 mm. 

 long, 1.1 mm. broad anteriorly to 4.3 mm. posteriorly. Scutum deep reddish brown, 

 nearly covered with a regularly distributed whitish rust, which indistinctly limits an 

 anterior reddish brown portion (pseudo-scutum), somewhat resembling in form and 

 color the female scutum, and leaving following portions reddish brown; (1) 4 

 longitudinal dark spots arranged in a semicircle posterior of the pseudo-scutum; 



^Synonymy and Bibliography. 



1897: Dermacentor variegatus Marx & Neumann, 1897, pp. 367-370, 383, figs. 22-24.— 

 Ward, 1900a, p. 201. — Stiles & Hassall, 1901, p. 3. — Salmon & Stiles, 

 1901, pp. 452-454, figs. 178-185. 



