Both sexes and each stage of Haemaphysalis kutchensis sp. n. are described. This species is common, as larvae and nymphs, on a variety of birds in the comparatively dry Kutch area of Gujerat State in northwestern India. It also occurs in Maharashtra and Rajasthan states. Adults have been found on mammals, hares and a variety of carnivores, and on large ground birds. Kutch is on a busy flyway between Central Asia and southern India and Ceylon, and larvae and nymphs are active during both spring and fall migration periods of birds. H. kutchensis sp. n. appears to be related to H. howletti Warburton and to H. campanulata Warburton, but is easily differentiated from these species. Immature stages of Haemaphysalis kutchensis sp. n., described below, are common on a variety of birds in the comparatively dry Kutch and other areas of Gujerat State, India. Several records of adults are from Maharashtra and Rajasthan states in western India. Adults have been found on hares and a variety of carnivores and on large ground birds. Kutch is on a busy flyway of birds migrating between Central Asia and southern India and Ceylon. Larvae and nymphs were taken on birds in Kutch during both the spring and fall migration periods of 1960 by staff members of the Virus Research Centre, Poona. Haemaphysalis kutchensis sp. n. The Kutch Haemaphysalid (Figs. 1 to 28) Haemaphysalis bispinosa var. intermedia Warburton and Nuttall, 1909; Nuttall and Warburton, 1915, p. 433-435, Fig. 363 of $ represents H. Received for publication 25 February 1963. * From Research Project MR005.09-1402.3, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department, Washington 25, 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 Department of Medical Zoology, United States Naval Medical Research Unit Number Three, Cairo, Egypt, U.A.R. $ Staff Member, the Rockefeller Foundation, Virus Research Centre, Poona, India. The Virus Research Centre is jointly maintained by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Rockefeller Foundation. kutchensis sp. n.; Fig. 364 of 9 represents H. intermedia W. and N., 1909 (see Trapido and Hoogstraal, 1963). Holotype: Male, VRC laboratory reared (No. 91) from nymph collected from bird at Kuar Bet, Kutch, Gujerat State, India, March 1960, by Virus Research Centre personnel. Deposited in collection of Rocky Mountain Laboratory, Hamilton, Montana (RML 38426). Allotype: Female; data and depository as for holotype. Par types: Total 70 $ $, 43 9 9,53 nymphs or nymphal pelts (reared to adults), 36 larvae. From Nuttall collection, identified as H. bispinosa intermedia, in British Museum (Natural History) and redeposited in BM(NH). 1 $, 1 9, from Indian Hare, Lepus nigricollis ruficaudatus Geoffrey, Shamghar, Raiasthan, India, March 1911, N. B. Kinnear legit (N1686). 2 9 9, cat, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, 1907, E. H. Hankin legit (N327). 1 $, Striped Hyena, Hyaena h. hyaena (Linnaeus, 1758), Ghodasgaon, Kandeish (now Maharashtra State), 4 May 1911, C. A. Crump legit (N1665). 2 $ $, 1 9, Indian Wolf, Canis lupus pallipes Sykes, 1831, Charwa, Cutch (now Kutch District, Guierat State), 1911, C. A. Crump legit (N1680). 1 $, Caracal Lynx, Felis caracal schmitzi Matschie, 1912, Bhuj, Cutch (now Kutch District, Gujerat State), 19 August 1911, C. A. Crump legit (N1682). 2 $ $, Jungle Cat, Felis chaus subsp. (= Felis affinis), Ghodasgaon, Kandeish (now Maharashtra State), 5 May 1911, C. A. Crump legit (N1666). 4 $ $, Jungle Cat, Felis chaus subsp., Nohaman, 1911 (Kinnear 264a). Note: Scientific names of host animals in this paragraph are the present-day usage for old names on labels. All the following paratypes were collected in Gujerat State in 1980 (one specimen in 1961) by Virus Research Centre personnel. All paratypes in the first paragraph below were collected as nymphs on hosts indicated and reared to adults. (F1 larvae and nymphs also obtained from VRC
Read full abstract