ORNITHODOROS 



Ornithodoros Koch, 1844. 



Argasidae with or without eyes. Rostrum surrounded ventrally 

 by a camerostome. Tips of the palpi visible from above. Lateral 

 borders of the body straight, sometimes concave. Integument 

 mammillated, with hemispherical elevations. Two longitudinal 

 coxal folds, a pair of supracoxal folds, one transverse pre-anal and 

 one post-anal groove, and one longitudinal anal groove running from 

 the anus to the post-anal groove. 



Type. — Ornithodoros savignyi Audouin, 1827. 



Eleven species are recorded: (i) Ornithodoros savignyi Audouin, 

 1827; (2) 0. mouhata Murray, 1877; (3) 0. turicatiis Duges, 1876; 

 (4) 0. megnini Duges, 1883 ; (5) 0. lahorensis Neumann, 1908 ; (6) 0. 

 tholozani Laboulbene and Megnin, 1882; (7) 0. pavimentosus Neu- 

 mann, 1901; (8) O.furcosus Neumann, 1908; (9) 0. erraticiis Lucas, 

 1849; (10) 0. coriaceus Koch, 1844; (11) 0. canestrinii Biruldi, 1895. 



Diagnostic Table. 



A. Eyes present: — 



Three knobs on the last segment of the fourth leg : — 

 {a) Tegument with hemispherical protuberances: — 



(1) Eyes of equal size (Africa and India)— 0. savignyi. 



(2) Anterior eyes larger (America) — 0. coriaceus. 



{b) Tegument with flattened protuberances (Africa) — 

 0, pavimentosus. 



B. Eyes absent : — 



I. Subrectangular body nearly square (Mexico) — 0. turicatus. 

 11. Body more or less constricted behind the fourth pair of 

 legs:— 



{a) With broad anterior end (Mexico) — 0. megnini. 

 (b) With narrow anterior end (Lahore) — 0. lahorensis. 

 III. Ovoid body, with broader posterior end: — 



(a) Anterior end broad and rounded (Central Africa) — 



0. moubata. 

 ib) Anterior end tapering: — 



. (i) Tarsi forked distally (Ecuador) — 0. furcosus. 



(2) Tarsi slightly knobbed (Algeria) — 0. erraticiis. 



(3) Tarsi second to fourth markedly knobbed 



(Persia) — 0. tholozani. 



(4) Tarsi first with three dorsal knobs, second to 



fourth with one knob (Persia) — 0. cane- 

 strinii. 



Ornithodoros savignyi Audouin, 1827. 



Synonyms. — Argas savignyi Audouin, 1827 ; Ornithodoros morbil- 

 losus Gerstacker, 1873; Argas schinzii Berlese, 1889. 



This is the type species of the genus, and has been studied in 

 detail by Neumann and Christophers. 



45 



