THE OCCURRENCE OF A RARE GENUS OE TICKS ON BATS IN PUERTO RICO (ACARINA: SPELAEORHYNCHIDAE)

Abstract

Since bats are the only living native land mammals of Puerto Rico, the author attempted a survey of their ectoparasites in hopes of finding new, indigenous species of mites, ticks, and fleas. During the course of this work it was discovered that the common fruit eating bat, Artibeus jamaicensis jamaicensis Leach, is parasitized by a tick in the unusual genus Spelaeorhynchus, not previously known to occur in Puerto Rico. No tick has heretofore been reported from bats in Puerto Rico, although previous efforts had been made to find them.