''Margaropus reidi'', the Sudanese beady-legged tick, is an
ixodid tick
The Ixodidae are the family of hard ticks or scale ticks, one of the three families of ticks, consisting of over 700 species. They are known as 'hard ticks' because they have a scutum or hard shield, which the other major family of ticks, the 'sof ...
that is
parasitic on the
Northern giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis'')[Don R. Arthur: ''Ticks, A Monograph of the Ixodoidea'', Part V, On the Genera ''Dermacentor'', ''Anocentor'', ''Cosmiomma'', ''Boophilus'' & ''Margaropus'', Cambridge: University Press, 1960, pp. 231-236; https://books.google.com/books?id=YvQ8AAAAIAAJ, last accessed 16 Jun 2019.][Animal Diversity Web: ''Margaropus'', https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Margaropus/classification/#Margaropus, accessed June 30, 2018.] It is one of only three
species in the
genus ''
Margaropus''.
The
type specimens were collected in Liednhom (or Lietnhom) on the south bank of the
Jur River, and at Guar, in the Gual-Nyang Forest,
Bahr el Ghazal,
South Sudan.
First described by
entomologist
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
and
parasitologist Harry Hoogstraal,
[Harry Hoogstraal: ''African Ixodoidea. I. Ticks of The Sudan (with Special Reference to Equatoria Province and with Prellminary Reviews of the Genera ''Boophilus'', ''Margaropus'', and ''Hyalomma'')''. U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 Research Report NM 005 050.29.07, 1956.] ''M. reidi'' are small ticks, approximately 3.0 mm (0.12 inch) in length and 1.4 mm (0.05 inch) in width.
They are dark reddish brown in color, with yellowish legs.
''M. reidi'' differs from the other two ''
Margaropus'' species in that the
setae around the posterior end of its body form a continuous fringe and, in comparison to ''Margaropus winthemi'' and ''Margaropus wileyi'', its anal plates are more bluntly pointed.
The ecological requirements of ''M. reidi'' are similar to those of ''M. wileyi'', but differ abruptly from those of ''M. winthemi''. The vegetation in the area where it is found is largely
broadleaf forests and
woodlands with a mean annual rainfall of over 900 mm (35 inches), a mean monthly maximum temperature that falls below 30 °C (86 °F) for a relatively short period and exceeds 35 °C (95 °F) during the hot season.
References
External links
Illustrations of ''Margaropus reidi''Key to the three ''Margaropus'' species
Ticks
Animals described in 1956
Endemic fauna of Sudan
Ixodidae
{{Acari-stub