Notes on African Haemaphysalis Ticks. III. The Hyrax Parasites, H. bequaerti sp. nov., H. orientalis N. and W., 1915 (New Combination), and H. cooleyi Bedford, 1929 (Ixodoidea, Ixodidae)

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Abstract
Haemaphysalis bequaerti is described from adults, nymphs, and a larva from the Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya. H. orientalis (H. hoodi var. o.) Nuttall and Warburton 1915) of Nyasaland and Mozambique, is redescribed, as is H. cooleyi Bedford 1929, of South Africa. H. zambeziae Santos Dias 1954 is a synonym of H. orientalis. These 3 spp. are referred to as the "H. orientalis group". The host predilection of these spp. for hyraxes is discussed in relation to the great age of these mammals in the African fauna and the habits of related spp. and groups (H. leachii, H. hoodi, and H. erinacei). Hyraxes are apparently rarely attacked by other spp. of ticks; available records are provided. The possible vector relation of H. bequaerti to a strange piroplasm of hyraxes is noted. H. muhsami Santos Dias 1954, is herein considered a subsp. of H. leachii (Audouin, 1827). This is the form previously referred to by workers on African ticks as the "small form of H. leachii", as H leachii indica, or as H. leachii near indica. The new comb. H. leachii muhsami.
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