niguan.

1555 R. Eden tr. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdés Summarie Gen. Hist. W. Indies in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 186 There is another lyttle mischievous woorme, wiche we may number amonge the kyndes of fleas. This pestilence the Indians caule Nigua.

1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iv. 148 Then had they a little flea called Nigua, which got betweene the skinne and the flesh before they were aware, and there bred and multiplied.

1704 tr. M. Guattini & D. Carli Curious Acct. Voy. Congo in J. Churchill Coll. Voy. I. 663/1 Here is a sort of Worms almost invisible, which are call'd in the Country Language Nigua, which hopping upon Mens Toes for some time like Fleas, afterwards penetrate the Skin.

1772 J. Adams tr. A. de Ulloa Voy. S. Amer. (ed. 3) I. 64 The insect of Carthagena called nigua, and in Peru pique, is shaped like a flea, but almost too small for sight.

1815 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. I. iv. 106 I am speaking of the celebrated Chigoe or Jiggers, called also Nigua.

1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) III. 35/2 The most annoying species..variously named in the West Indies, chigoe, jigger, nigua, tungua, and pique.

1868 F. Boyle Ride across Continent 68 ‘Neguas’..better known in England by their West Indian name ‘jiggers’ or ‘chigos’.

1894 Gentleman's Mag. July 72 We have the jigger—he is eminently at home here [i.e. in Colombia]—only we call him negua.

1949 V. W. Von Hagen Sotuh America called Them 36 Had he been in Paris, La Condamine might have thought he suffered from the gout; his feet pulsated, throbbed; but here in the province of Quito—the Indians looked at his feet and told him he had niguas.

1964 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XII. 345/1 In tropical America, a flea known as the ‘chigue’, ‘nigua’, or sand flea..can penetrate into the skin.