HAEMAPHYSALIS (ALLOCERAEA) APONOMMOIDES WARBURTON (IXODOIDEA: IXODIDAE), DESCRIPTION OF IMMATURE STAGES, HOSTS, DISTRIBUTION, AND ECOLOGY IN INDIA, NEPAL, SIKKIM, AND CHINA*

Haemaphysalis (Alloceraea) aponommoides Warburton has been reported from only 8 collections of adults. The larva and nymph are described and compared with those of H. (A.) inermis Birula (S Europe, SW USSR, N Iran) and H. (A.) kitaokai Hoogstraal (Japan). Data and observations are presented for 102 collections (2,075 specimens) of aponommoides from Nepal and for others from India, Sikkim, and China. Immature stages are recorded from a pheasant and 2 shrew and 4 rodent spe- cies between 8,000 and 11,500 ft altitude in Nepal. Hosts of adults are chiefly artiodactyl mammals, the barking deer and serow, and the domestic cow, yak, cow/yak hybrid, buffalo, horse, goat, and sheep, but also include humans, a domestic dog, a flying squirrel, two wildcats, and a black bear. Adults occur be- tween 7,000 and 16,000 ft altitude in Nepal but as low as 2,975 ft altitude in dense forests in heavy rainfall areas of Sikkim. Larvae and nymphs quest for hosts from low vegetation beside small-mammal runways before, during, and after the monsoon season. Adults are active most of the year. Biotopes in- clude pastures and clearings, bamboo thickets, original forest with moss and fern but little underbrush, dense sal forest, various coniferous forests, oak-rhododendron forest, and alpine meadow.