A new species of flea in the genus Ctenophthalmus (Siphonaptera: Hystrichopsyllidae)]

A new species, Ctenophthalmus (Euctenophthalmus) parthicus sp. n., is described from social vole (Microtus socialis Pallas) from four localities of the West Kopetdag Mountains of Turkmenia. The new species is close to C.(E.) secundus Wagner and C.(E.) congener nadimi Farhang-Azad. It differs from males of the other known species by the following characters. The movable process has an infra-acetabular process whose length is the same as the height of its supra-acetabular portion. The movable process has the straight front margin, right anterior apical angle. The anterior part of the dorsal margin of the movable process is elevated, the hind part is slightly concave. The posterior apical angle of the movable process is cut. The hind margin of the movable process is convex. The apex of the distal arm of sternum IX is straight, not oblique. The female differs by the following peculiarities. Sternum VII has a well developed dorsal lobe below which there is a smaller rounded lobe and a distinct small ventral process. Unciform sclerotization of tergum VIII (or the place of connection between tergum VIII and its internal lobe) resembles an arc. The front margin of the internal lobe of tergum VIII is not sclerotized. The bursa copulatrix is as long as the dorsal spines of pronotum.     

First report of Siphonaptera infesting Microtus (Microtus) cabrerae (Rodentia-Muridae-Arvicolinae) in Cuenca,Spain and notes about the morphologic variability of Ctenophthalmus (Ctenophthalmus) apertus personatus (Insecta-Siphonaptera-Ctenophthalmidae)

The fleas infesting Microtus (Microtus) cabrerae from three different areas of Cuenca province (Spain) have been studied. It is the first time that on ectoparasitological study of this badly known rodent has been done. Four Siphonaptera species have been detected: Rhadinopsylla (Actenophthalmus) pentacantha, Peromyscopsylla spectabilis spectabilis, Nosopsyllus fasciatus and Ctenophthalmus (Ctenophthalmus) apertus personatus, which was the most abundant species (26 males and 31 females of a total of 28 males and 35 females). Considering the great morphologic variability within the male processus basimerus ventralis (p.b.v.) of segment IX of C. personatus subspecies, three morphotypes have been recognised. The male polymorphism detected, would be the result of both host confinement and genetic selection acting on the parasite. It should be pointed out that C. (C.) apertus personatus is not narrowly host-specific, therefore further studies are required to clarify this taxonomic situation.     

The Australian giant fleas Macropsylla Rothschild, 1905 (Siphonaptera: Macropsyllidae: Macropsyllinae), their identification,evolution, ecology,and conservation biology

Systematic Parasitology - Macropsylla Rothschild, 1905 is an endemic Australian flea genus represented by two species: M. hercules Rothschild, 1905 and M. novaehollandiae Hastriter, 2002. However,...     

Two new Ctenophthalmus (Insecta: Siphonaptera: Ctenophthalmidae) from Tanzania

During a recent epidemiological study of Lushoto plague focus, some uncommon specimens of fleas or even totally new species were collected. In this paper, we describe one of those, Ctenophthalmus (Ethioctenophthalmus) teucqae n. sp. Microscopic observation of comparison specimens deposited at National History Museum (London) allows us to create a sub-species, C. (E.) teucqae shumeensis n. ssp.     

Wolbachia endosymbionts in fleas (Siphonaptera)

Intracellular endosymbionts, Wolbachia spp., have been reported in many different orders of insects and in nematodes but not previously in fleas. This is the first conclusive report of Wolbachia spp. within members of the Siphonaptera. Using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, we screened for Wolbachia spp. in fleas collected from 3 counties in Georgia and 1 in New York. The prevalence of Wolbachia spp. detected varied among the 6 different species screened: 21% in the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis (n = 604), 7% in the dog flea C. canis (n = 28), 25% in Polygenus gwyni (n = 8), 80% in Orchopeas howardi (n = 15), 94% in Pulex simulans (n = 255), and 24% in the sticktight flea Echidnophaga gallinacea (n = 101). Wolbachia spp. infection in fleas was confirmed by sequencing positive PCR products, comparing sequenced 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) with Wolbachia spp. sequences in GenBank using BLAST search, and subjecting sequence data to phylogenetic analysis. For further confirmation, 16S rDNA-positive samples were reamplified using the wsp gene.     

Adaptations of fleas (Siphonaptera) to parasitism

The paper deals with peculiarities of flea structure determined by their parasitism on mammals and birds. On the basis of the data on diversity of morphological characters, the leading role of structures of the frontal and nototrochanteral complexes in the adaptive evolution of Siphonaptera is substantiated. Peculiarities of the pulicoid, ischnopsylloid, palaeopsylloid, and generalized morphological types are analyzed together with examples of narrow morphological specializations. Distribution of fleas of these morphological types over five groups of hosts differing in the degree of mobility and association with nests and burrows is also analyzed.     

Classification of the flea families (Siphonaptera): II. Family Hystrichopsyllidae (part 2)

Morphology of the flea family Hystrichopsyllidae is considered. The subfamilies Stenoponiinae, Neopsyllinae, Doratopsyllinae, and Ctenophthalminae are distinguished. In all, 148 states of the characters of the head, thorax, modified abdominal segments, and aedeagus have been analyzed within the family Hystrichopsyllidae and the whole order Siphonaptera as well.     

Classification of flea families (Siphonaptera): I. Family Hystrichopsyllidae (first part)

A contribution is made to the previously elaborated classification of the order Siphonaptera (Medvedev, 1994, 1998). Host-parasite associations, geographical distribution, and morphology of the family Hystrichopsyllidae (sensu Hopkins and Rothschild, 1962, 1966) in comparison with other flea families are analyzed together with a position of the family within the infraorder Hystrichopsyllomorpha. The presence of two spermathecae, frequently used as a taxonomic character, is a character insufficient for the basic phylogenetic reconstructions, e.g., establishment of close relationship between the families Coptopsyllidae and Macropsyllidae or the tribes Ctenopariini and Hystrichopsyllini, because this character is a plesiomorphy of the order Siphonaptera. The subfamily Hystrichopsyllinae (sensu Hopkins and Rothschild, 1962) is characterized by a large number of morphological features which can be considered as plesiomorphic characters of the family Hystrichopsyllidae as a whole. The subfamily Hystrichopsyllinae should be restricted to the tribes Ctenopariini and Hystrichopsyllini. The family Macropsyllidae possesses a unique structure of the ctenidia and some other structures. It should be treated as a group closely related to Hystrichopsyllidae. The family Coptopsyllidae demonstrates another trend in the evolution of the head, thorax, and abdomen.     

Classification of the flea families (Siphonaptera): I. Family Hystrichopsyllidae (Part 5)

Based on analysis of homologous character states and considering the molecular-biological data (Whiting et al., 2008), phylogenetic relationships of the tribes and subfamilies of the family Hystrichopsyllidae are discussed. In some cases, homologous states of the skeleton characters mark the clades revealed by the moleculargenetic analysis, but are shared by taxa from other clades. In contrast to the molecular-genetic data, morphological characters indicate the phylogenetic integrity of the family Hystrichopsyllidae. Morphological characters depict the subfamily Anomiopsyllinae as a monophyletic taxon (having synapomorphic states of the metaphragma, metasternite, and the mesosternal apodeme) closest to the subfamilies Neopsyllinae and Rhadinopsyllinae. The subfamilies Neopsyllinae, Rhadinopsyllinae, and Stenoponiinae have a non-thickened metasternite; the former two subfamilies also have in common a similar structure of articulation of the digitoid with the clasper, type of the metaphragma modification, and the presence of the sclerotized central sclerite. Homologous modifications of the metaphragma are also present in fleas of the subfamily Stenoponiinae. Close to this group are the subfamily Hystrichopsyllinae whose representatives also possess non-thickened metasternal apodemes, and the subfamily Listropsyllinae with its frontal sclerotized tubercle being a specialized modification of the frontal sclerotized fold. A specific feature shared by fleas of the subfamilies Hystrichopsyllinae and Listropsyllinae is the presence of the metasternal furca with high sharp processes and a high medial ridge. The closeness of these taxa is supported by the results of molecular-genetic analysis. The subfamilies Doratopsyllinae and Ctenophthalminae (tribes Ctenophthalmini and Carterettini) are united by the type of the attachment of the mesopleural rod to the special ridge at the upper margin of the mesopleuron. According to the molecular-genetic data, the tribe Neotyphloceratini is related to these subfamilies, even though its members have no ridge on the mesopleuron. The similarity in the structure of the furca (the presence of high dorsal processes with rounded apices and a high median ridge) and in the length ratio of the fulcrum lobes relates the subfamilies Ctenophthalminae and Dinopsyllinae.     

朝鲜叉蚤种下分类的商榷(蚤目:多毛蚤科)

该文系统回顾和分析了朝鲜叉蚤DoratopsyllacoreanaDarskaya,1949的亚种形态和分类,结果表明:(1)朝鲜叉蚤的亚种♂抱器在长与宽之比上均存在较宽幅度变异,这种变异往往也与制片有关,在通常情况下,标本在薄压和没有薄压的条件下作对比,二者形态有很大差异,因此不能单纯用抱器长与中部宽之比来作为种间分类指标;(2)蚤类可动突与不动突,平时都当作一种“硬部位”来对待,而属于“软部位”诸如阳茎钩突和雌蚤受精囊管等,这些器官在压片时往往方向、形状都会出现差异和偏位。70年代以来,雄蚤阳茎钩突的形状在蚤类种间或种下分类中起到了比较重要的辅助作用,但必须有一个前提,即雄蚤的可动突和不动突是在种间和种下出现差异的情况下才适用;(3)通过所附11篇文献的叙述及附图的比较观察,再辅以有关标本的描绘,作者认为D.coreanasichuanensis与D.coreanacoreana在形态上并无区别;D.jii与D.coreanaaraea也无实质性差别。文后附亚种检索表。     

Classification of the flea families (Siphonaptera): II. Family Hystrichopsyllidae (Part 3)

Morphological characters and their diversity in the Afrotropical subfamilies Dinopsyllinae and Listropsyllinae, and the Holarctic subfamily Anomiopsyllinae are evaluated. Three centers had the major significance in the formation of the family Hystrichopsyllidae: the South American (extra-Caribbean), Afro-European, and North American and Asian ones. One more center may have been located in Australia but its fauna has become largely extinct or remains unknown. The origin of a number of tribes of the subfamilies Hystrichopsyllinae and Doratopsyllinae is associated with the South American center; the origin of subgenera of the subfamily Ctenophthalminae as well as the subfamilies Listropsyllinae and Dinopsyllinae, with the Afro-European center; and the origin of the subfamilies Neopsyllinae, Rhadinopsyllinae, Anomiopsyllinae, Stenoponiinae, and Liuopsyllinae, with the North American and Asian center. Distribution of the subfamilies Doratopsyllinae and Hystrichopsyllinae sheds light on the initial stages of formation of the family Hystrichopsyllidae.     

Kellicotia bostoniensis (Rousselet, 1908) (Rotifera: Brachionidae) in waterbodies of European Russia

The rotifer Kellicottia bostoniensis (Rousselet, 1908), which is common in North American water-bodies, has been recorded in 13 different lakes of the European part of Russia. A morphometric analysis has been made of populations from 7 lakes. The assumption has been made that the size of the spines of K. bostoniensis in small waterbodies depends on the presence of predators. Depth-related changes in density and viscosity in deep lakes with temperature stratification can also influence this feature.     

Intravenous injection of unanesthetized hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)

A rubber band tourniquet was applied to the proximal portion of the foreleg of unanesthetized male and female golden hamsters followed by intravenous injection in the cephalic vein using a 25 gauge needle. Volumes up to 0.3 ml could be injected easily.