On a new tick from British Somaliland

Abstract

A Collection of ticks from British Somaliland recently sent to the British Museum (Natural History) contained specimens of a species of Ornithodoros unlike any in the national collection and (from the appearance of the integument) related to the North African species O. foleyi Parrot (from Algeria) and O. delanoëi Roubaud & Colas-Belcour (from Morocco). The late Prof. G. H. F. Nuttall presented to the Museum a specimen of O. foleyi, and the writer is indebted to Prof. E. Roubaud for comparing one of the present specimens with the type of O. delanoëi. Prof. Roubaud writes to say that, having examined the Somaliland specimen, he and M. Colas-Belcour are of the opinion that it belongs to the species O. delanoëi: and that the various details of structural difference do not warrant a specific distinction, but indicate that the present specimens may belong to a different biological or geographical race. The large size of these Somaliland ticks, the discovery of their larvae and their presence in a locality so widely separated from that of the type, are considered important enough to be placed on record, and the specimens are regarded as representing a subspecies of O. delanoëi