1932 ] 
Amblyomma dissimile 
45 
AMBLYOMMA DISSIMILE KOCH, A TICK 
INDIGENOUS TO THE UNITED STATES 
(ACARINA: IXODIDAE) 
By J. Bequaert 
Department of Tropical Medicine, Harvard Medical School 
A few months ago, Mr. H. L. Stecher, of Staten Island, 
presented me, through Mr. W. T. Davis, with a female tick 
which he had taken at Boca Ratone, Palm Beach Co., 
Florida. It was found on a pigmy or ground rattler, Sis- 
trurus miliaris (Linne), and was attached to the left side 
behind the head. It was at once clear that it did not be- 
long to any of the species known thus far from this coun- 
try. Further study has shown that it is Amblyomma dis- 
simile C. L. Koch, a common parasite of many different 
reptiles and amphibians throughout Central and South 
America. 
As far as I have been able to find, this is the first authen- 
tic instance of A. dissimile being found indigenous, on a 
wild host, within the borders of the United States. It is 
true that W. A. Hooker, F. C. Bishopp and H. P. Wood 
(1912, U. S. Dept. Agric., Bur. Entom., Bull. 106, p. 131) 
saw nymphs and adults collected from iguanas at Browns- 
ville, Texas; but they plainly state that these iguanas had 
been brought from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, 
so that this occurrence of the tick in Texas was merely 
accidental. Moreover, there seems to be no reason why 
A. dissimile should not be found in the wild state in south- 
ern Texas. 
The Florida tick agrees in every respect with the many 
examples I have studied from Mexico and farther south. 
I have seen several lots of A. dissimile from Mexico, Gua- 
temala, British Honduras, the Republic of Honduras, 
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, 
