Notes on African Haemaphysalis Ticks. I. The Mediterranean-Littoral Hedgehog Parasite H. erinacei Pavesi, 1884 (Ixodoidea, Ixodidae)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The male and female of H. erinacei are redescribed; the nymph, larva, and egg are described for the first time. In Egypt, the sp. is fairly common only on the Mediterranean littoral; its host, the long-eared hedgehog, Hemi-echinus auritus aegyptius, extends about 175 miles south of the coast in the Nile Valley. Larvae and nymphs parasitize hedge-hogs, gerbils, dormice, and jirds. Breeding continues through-out the year, with a heavy springtime peak; one and a half gener-ations a year appear likely in nature. Females remain on the host for 3 weeks or longer. Unspecialized for moving among the hosts'' spiny hairs, adults usually feed on the ears. A recent proposal for separating N. African from Palestinian-Russian populations by the criterion of coxal hair numbers and lengths is one which must be very cautiously used due to wear and tear of these hairs in life and after death. N. African and possibly Palestinian populations are considered to be all H. erinacei Pavesi, 1884. Larger series of specimens from n.-w. Africa and Palestine are necessary for the final evaluation of this criterion. Relationship of this sp. to H. taurica Pospelova-Shtrom, of U.S.S.R. is uncertain.
Keywords

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: