3 NEW SPECIES OF TICKS (IXODIDA, ARGASIDAE, CARIOS) FROM FRUIT BATS (CHIROPTERA, PTEROPODIDAE) IN THE AUSTRALIAN REGION, WITH NOTES ON HOSTASSOCIATIONS

The tick fauna on Australasian fruit bats (Chiroptera : Pteropodidae) is reexamined. In addition to the previously described species Caries batuensis (Hirst, 1929), C. solomonis (Dumbleton, 1958) and C. rennell ensis (Clifford and Sonenshine, 1962), three new species are recognize d : C. papuensis n. sp. described from the larva and adults, and C, mu ltisetosus n. sp. and C. hadiae n. sp. described from larvae only. Car ies steini (Schulze, 1935) is synonymized with C. batuensis. All speci es examined are associated with cave inhabiting bats in the genera Dob sonia, Rousettus and Eonycteris. Most tick species have a relatively n arrow host range, but this may be a secondary effect of high specifici ty for off-host habitat, rather than the result of coadaptation to spe cific hosts.