G. Anastos.
Accidental Parasitism of a Tick by a Tick.
Psyche 55:36-37, 1948.

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ACCIDENTAL PARASITISM OF A TICK
BY A TICK,
BY GEORGE ANASTOS
Biological Laboratories, Harvard University A case of a tick feeding on another tick was recently observed amongst a lot of several thousand ticks taken off domestic animals in the Netherlands East Indies, and sent for study by Dr. F. 0. Kraneveld of the Bacterioloog Veeartsenijkundig Instituut, Buitenzorg, Java. A par- tially engorged female RMpicep'halus hcemaph ysaloid es paulop.unctatus Neumann had its hypostome deeply in- serted in the ventral surface of the abdomen of a fully engorged female Boophilus microplus (Canestrini) . The vial containing these two specimens listed the host as a cow from Batavia, Java; so it would appear that the Boophilus was attached and feeding on the cow at the time it was collected.
This should be considered a case of accidental parasit- ism. It cannot well be called "cannibalism" since it in- volves ticks not only of different species but even of different genera. The cases called " cannibalism" by previous authors concerned individuals of the same species only.
A survey of the literature has revealed the following cases known as "cannibalism" : C. A. Barber (1895, Na- ture 52, p. 199) figures a male Arnblyomma variegatum (Hyalomma venustum) attached to the posterior end of a female of the same species. Hunter and Hooker (1907, Bur. Ent. Bull. 72, p. 35) reported finding in a lot of live ticks from southwest Texas a female cattle tick, Boophilus annulatus, with its mouthparts inserted in another tick (sex not given). Hooker, Bishopp, and Wood (1912, Bur. Ent. Bull. 106, p. 32) found amongst specimens sent to their laboratory a male Boophilus annulatus (Mar- garopus annulatits) with its hypostome inserted into the side of an engorged female. Wood in two instances ob- served in the laboratory OrnitJiodoros turicata adults attaching and feeding on recently fed adults of the same 36
Psit-ht 55:36-17 (1948). hup Wpsycht rinclub orgtt5/55-OM html



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19481 Anastos-Parasitism of a Tick 37
species.
Their final record was of two female Derma- centor andersoni (Dermacentor venustus) taken off a horse at Lakeside, Washington; when received in the lab- oratory the smaller female was attached to the more fully engorged one. Sergent (1930, Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Afr. du Nord XXI, p. 195) observed, in tick feeding experi- ments on a calf, that an unengorged nymph of Hyalomma maurita- attached itself to an engorged nymph of the same species. Roubaud and Colas-Belcour (1935, Ann. Parasit. Paris, TI3 No. 5, p. 427) record two males of Aponomma crassipes on afemale of the same species taken off a lizard in Tonkin, Indo-China. E. Francis (1938, Pub. Hlth. Rep., U. S. pub. Hlth. Serv. 53, p. 2234) records a starved female Ornittwdoros turicata attached and feeding on a fully engorged male, and an unfed fourth stage nymph feeding on a fed nymph of this same species. G. E. Davis (1941, Journal of Parasitology 27, p. 432) believes the term " cannibalism" to be a misnomer since the tick host is not consumed nor harmed enough to interfere with its normal functions. He records, two cases wherein last stage nymphs of OrnitJwdoros parkeri were punctured by ticks which proceeded to completely engorge.
From the small number of known cases it would appear that ticks seldom feed on each other. Lack of a suitable host in nature might induce a tick to feed upon an already engorged tick ; or else a tick might accidentally pierce an- other tick if the host were heavily infested.



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