The Subgenus Persicargas New Subgenus (Ixodoidea, Argasidae, Argas). 1. A. (P.) arboreus, New Species, an Egyptian Persicus-like Parasite of Wild Birds, with a Redefinition of the Subgenus Argas1

Abstract

Argas (Persicargas) arboreus, new subgenus, new species, is very numerous in rookeries of the Buff-backed Heron or Cattle Egret ( Bubulcus ibis ibis ) near Cairo, Egypt, and differs from the cosmopolitan Argas (Persicargas) persicus (the type species of the new subgenus) in distinctive morphological features of adults, nymphs, and larvae as well as in biological characteristics and patterns of virus and Wolbachia infection. Adults, nymphs, and engorged and unengorged larvae of this species are described and illustrated. Both these species are compared with Argas (P.) beklemischevi Pospelova-Shtrom, Vassilieva, and Semaschko, 1963, described from 5 engorged larvae from a vulture in Turkmenia, U.S.S.R., and with A. (?P.) bureschi Drenski, 1957, known only by 3 adults from the nest of a ground squirrel in Bulgaria. Persicargas, new subgenus (i.e., the “ persicus group”) is characterized by the presence of lateral integumental cells and of postpalpal bristles in adult and nymphal stages. In the subgenus Argas (i.e., the “ reflexus group”), the lateral integument is either striated only or mixed striated-celled, and postpalpal bristles are absent.