Studies on Southeast Asian Haemaphysalis Ticks (Ixodoidea, Ixodidae). H. atherurus sp. n. and Redescription of Type Material of H. birmaniae Supino, 1897

Abstract

Haemaphysalis atherurus sp. n. is described from males, females, nymphs, and larvae from the brush-tailed porcupine, Atherurus m. macrourus (L.), in Ulu Langat Forest, Selangor, Malaya, and from A. macrourus stevensi Thomas at 2,100 m altitude on Phu Lom Lo in Loei, northern Thailand. In recent literature on ticks of Malaya, this species has been called H. birmaniae Supino, 1897, a taxon that previously has not been clearly delineated. Type material of H. birmaniae is redescribed and illustrated. An effort to establish order among a rather large number of vaguely known haemaphysalid species names in Southeastern Asia is especially timely. In this geographic area, pathogenic agents are being isolated from tick samples that can be identified only as Haemaphysalis species (Bennett Elisberg, personal communication; H. H.). A similar situation arose in India in 1957 when the virus causing Kyasanur Forest disease was first isolated from certain components in a bewildering fauna of poorly recognized haemaphysalid species. A 6-year intensive field, laboratory, and museum study program by a large staff of the Virus Research Received for publication 30 September 1964. *From Research Project MR005.09-1402.3, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department, 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 reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large. t Head, Department of Medical Zoology, United States Naval Medical Research Unit Number Three, Cairo, Egypt, U.A.R. t The Rockefeller Foundation, New York. ? Sanitarian Director, United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratory, Hamilton, Montana. Center, Poona, and by collaborating specialists, was required before a satisfactory degree of basic understanding of the Haemaphysalis fauna of southwestern India was obtained. Knowledge of Haemaphysalis ticks of Southeastern Asia is rapidly expanding. Population samples available for study are larger, more numerous, and more varied than heretofore. Larvae and nymphs have been reared; these provide valuable guidelines for determining species relationships. Long-dormant collections containing inadequately described species are being restudied. Widespread institutional, international, and personal collaboration is being devoted to solving outstanding problems in this