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Some extra-human reservoirs of pathogenic fungi in New Zealand
91 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE.
Vol.
56.
No.
1.
January,
1962.
CORRESPONDENCE To the Editor SOME EXTRA-HUMAN RESERVOIRS OF PATHOGENIC FUNGI IN NEW ZEALAND
SIR,--In Transactions, 1961, 55, 216 I reported a high incidence of infection in the hedgehog. Strains of Trichophyton mentagrophytes could be isolated from 30-40 per cent. of animals examined. In this paper I implied that the green fluorescence under the Wood light, which can be observed at the base of the hedgehog quill, was due to the presence of the pathogenic fungus. This was my belief at the time of writing. Further studies of dermatophyte infections of hedgehogs, however, indicate that I was in error. While it is true, both that hedgehog quills show a green fluorescence under the Wood light, and that strains of 2?. mentagrophytes can be isolated from 30-40 per cent. of animals, the two facts do not appear to be causally related. I should be most grateful if you would publish this letter, so that my error may be corrected. I alTl~ etc., ~\/~ARY J.
~'vIARPLES, Associate Prq[essor of Microbiology. Department of Microbiology, University of Otago. 31st October, 1961.
NOTIFICATION OF THE REPLACING OF THE SINGLE SPECIES CONCEPT OF " Ornithodorus moubata " BY A GROUP OF NEW SPECIES AND THE CREATION OF A NEOTYPE FOR THE NOMEN DUBIUM m o u b a t a MURRAY,
1877. SIR,--The above mentioned changes will appear early next year in Symposium No. 6 of the Zoological Society of London entitled " Some aspects of disease transmission by ticks." In order to avoid the creation of a confused taxonomic situation I would very much like it to be known that for many years the species name moubata Murray, 1877, in the genus Ornithodorus, has been a nomen dubium. It has been quite impossible to identify the tick to which Murray gave this name in 1877, because his descriptions and illustrations are inadequate and his type specimen from Angola, deposited in the Bethnal Green Museum in London, has been lost. Murray adopted an Angolan native tribal name and did not use the correct spelling. According to Nuttall et al. (1908) the Angolan Kimbundu word for these ticks is MARATA (singular dibata). T h e Zoological Society's 6th symposium will contain biological evidence for the existence of four species and one new subspecies of Ornithodorus in place of the single species concept which has prevailed for many years. Descriptions, a dichotomous key and numerous illustrations of these species are also provided, together with a short outline of the epidemiology of human tick-borne relapsing fever viewed from the new angle of species sanitation. Because the name moubata has been used for so long and is so well established, I have retained it spelt as used by Murray, by creating a neotype to replace his lost type. I have given sound reasons for using this name for a species of Ornithodorus which I believe to be the one actually studied by Murray. This new O. moubata has its main domestic distribution in Angola, Bechuanaland, the Transvaal and Mozambique with extensions as far north as central Tanganyika. Its distribution in the natural wild environment remains to be worked out, but it has been found in warthog or porcupine burrows as far apart as Northern Bechuanaland and the dry Kerio Valley in the northern half of Kenya, and on an elephant in the Angolan Congo, a situation which serves the purpose of stressing the wild origin of all the new species and the necessity of making more thorough studies of these ticks in the wilds and on animals.
Vol.
56.
No.
1.
January,
1962.
CORRESPONDENCE To the Editor SOME EXTRA-HUMAN RESERVOIRS OF PATHOGENIC FUNGI IN NEW ZEALAND
SIR,--In Transactions, 1961, 55, 216 I reported a high incidence of infection in the hedgehog. Strains of Trichophyton mentagrophytes could be isolated from 30-40 per cent. of animals examined. In this paper I implied that the green fluorescence under the Wood light, which can be observed at the base of the hedgehog quill, was due to the presence of the pathogenic fungus. This was my belief at the time of writing. Further studies of dermatophyte infections of hedgehogs, however, indicate that I was in error. While it is true, both that hedgehog quills show a green fluorescence under the Wood light, and that strains of 2?. mentagrophytes can be isolated from 30-40 per cent. of animals, the two facts do not appear to be causally related. I should be most grateful if you would publish this letter, so that my error may be corrected. I alTl~ etc., ~\/~ARY J.
~'vIARPLES, Associate Prq[essor of Microbiology. Department of Microbiology, University of Otago. 31st October, 1961.
NOTIFICATION OF THE REPLACING OF THE SINGLE SPECIES CONCEPT OF " Ornithodorus moubata " BY A GROUP OF NEW SPECIES AND THE CREATION OF A NEOTYPE FOR THE NOMEN DUBIUM m o u b a t a MURRAY,
1877. SIR,--The above mentioned changes will appear early next year in Symposium No. 6 of the Zoological Society of London entitled " Some aspects of disease transmission by ticks." In order to avoid the creation of a confused taxonomic situation I would very much like it to be known that for many years the species name moubata Murray, 1877, in the genus Ornithodorus, has been a nomen dubium. It has been quite impossible to identify the tick to which Murray gave this name in 1877, because his descriptions and illustrations are inadequate and his type specimen from Angola, deposited in the Bethnal Green Museum in London, has been lost. Murray adopted an Angolan native tribal name and did not use the correct spelling. According to Nuttall et al. (1908) the Angolan Kimbundu word for these ticks is MARATA (singular dibata). T h e Zoological Society's 6th symposium will contain biological evidence for the existence of four species and one new subspecies of Ornithodorus in place of the single species concept which has prevailed for many years. Descriptions, a dichotomous key and numerous illustrations of these species are also provided, together with a short outline of the epidemiology of human tick-borne relapsing fever viewed from the new angle of species sanitation. Because the name moubata has been used for so long and is so well established, I have retained it spelt as used by Murray, by creating a neotype to replace his lost type. I have given sound reasons for using this name for a species of Ornithodorus which I believe to be the one actually studied by Murray. This new O. moubata has its main domestic distribution in Angola, Bechuanaland, the Transvaal and Mozambique with extensions as far north as central Tanganyika. Its distribution in the natural wild environment remains to be worked out, but it has been found in warthog or porcupine burrows as far apart as Northern Bechuanaland and the dry Kerio Valley in the northern half of Kenya, and on an elephant in the Angolan Congo, a situation which serves the purpose of stressing the wild origin of all the new species and the necessity of making more thorough studies of these ticks in the wilds and on animals.