Haemaphysalis (Kaiseriana) anomala Warburton (Ixodoidea: Ixodidae) from India: Description of Immature Stages and Biological Observations

Abstract

The immature stages of Haemaphysalis (Kaiseriana) anomala Warburton are described and characterized in relation to those of other species of the H. (K.) cornigera group. The previous single records of adults in widely scattered localities from Ceylon, Northeast India, and Southeast Asia are now expanded by relatively numerous data for adults, nymphs, and larvae from moist deciduous forests between 800 and 3,400 ft altitude in western Himalayan foothills and valleys of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. The temperature range in these forests is from 40 C in summer to 1 C, or rarely slightly less, in winter, and much of the total annual rain (125 to 300 cm) falls during the monsoons. Most adult ticks were taken during the monsoons; all immatures were collected in premonsoon and postmonsoon months. Nymphs and larvae were found feeding on a coucal, Centropus s. sinensis (Stephens) (Cuculidae), and rats (Rattus spp.). Adults were common on domestic cattle and buffalo. In the laboratory, the threehost type of life cycle was completed in about 4 months. Haemaphysalis (Kaiseriana) anomala Warburton was previously known only from 14 collections of adult specimens taken from humans, carnivores, and artiodactyls between 800 and 4,000 ft altitude in Northeast India, Nepal lowlands, and Southeast Asia, and it was suggested that these scattered data might be associated with certain peculiar biotopes (Hoogstraal, Kohls, and Trapido, 1967). A single collection from Ceylon has also been reported (Seneviratna, 1965). Owing to the little information regarding the widely distributed H. (K.) anomala, it is noteworthy to report the discovery of an ecological zone in the western Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh where Received for publication 23 November 1971. * From Research Project MF12.524.009-3010, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Department of the Navy, Washington, D. C. The opinions and assertions contained herein are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Navy or of the naval service at large. The illustrations in this report were prepared under the auspices of Agreement 03-005-01 between the NIAID (NIH) and NAMRU-3. The specimen material was collected during an ICMR-sponsored survey of hematophagous arthropods in mountain regions of India, supervised by Dr. T. Ramachandra Rao, former Director or the Virus Research Centre. t Medical Zoology Department, U. S. Naval Medical Research Unit Number Three (NAMRU-3), c/o Spanish Embassy, Cairo, Egypt. t Virus Research Centre, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Poona, India. relatively numerous specimens could be collected. From this material and data we now describe the immature stages, characterize them in relation to other members of the H. (K.) cornigera group, and provide host, distribution, and ecological records, as well as details of the life cycle in the laboratory. Haemaphysalis (Kaiseriana) anomala Warburton Anomalous scissor-spurred haemaphysalid (Figs. 1-15) The adults were redescribed and illustrated, and the biological information available for this species was reviewed by Hoogstraal, Kohls, and Trapido (1967).