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PRELIMINARY STUDIES IN SIPHONAPTERA.—II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Carl F. Baker
Affiliation:
Fort Collins, Colo.

Extract

A. Eyes well developed; antennæ with circular iucisions or cleft only on one side; head and thorax usually stout and compact; head rarely angulated in front; lower edge of head and pronotum behind sometimes with combs, abdominal segments and discs of cheeks without … Pulex.

AA. Eyes wanting, or very rudimentary; antennæ with circular incisions.

B. Eyes entirely wanting; head and thorax stout and compact; head angulated in front, truncate several abdominal segments with combs of numerous spines, the whole body heavily bristled … Hystrichopsylla

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1895

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References

* The genus Stephanocircus. Skuse (Records of Austral. Mus., II., 5, Sydney, Sept., 189.), with its single species, Dasyuri, Skuse, parasitic on Dasyurus maculatus, Kerr., I do not include in this table. As characterized, it possesses a most extraordinary structure. Should further study verify all points of the description, this genus will form a very interesting addition to the family. It, however, seems probable that two species have been confused, and that both are referable to known genera. The description (for a copy of which I am indebted to Mr. Wm. J. Fox) is as follows:—“Stephanocircus, gen. nov. Body elongatge, especially in the female, bristly, noticeably stronger at the anal extremity. Antennæ capitate, four-jointed, the second joint in the female with long bristles extending to the tip of the fourth; in the male very short; fourth joint lamellar, apparanetly composed of nine segments. Head moderately large; in the female with an exserted, cap-like patella in the front, strongly pectinated round its posterior margin, the face also strongly pectinated; in the male the posterior margin of the head only pectinated; eyes wanting in the female; trophi less than the length of the head; mandibles extremely slender, minutely serrated, encased in four-jointed labial palpi, which somewhat exceeding the second joint of the labial palpi, with no apparent apical joint; maxillary palpi four-jointed, the first and fourth of about equal length, the third shorter and the second the longest, acuminate; joints of the labial palpi progressively diminishing in length and thickness. Prothorax in female with a strong pectinate fringe. Legs long, spinous; coxæ of posterior two pairs with a distinct notch posteriorly at the apex; femora very minutely and sparingly spined; tarsi five jointed, the first, second ant fifth joints long, the third shorter, the fourth shortest, half the length of the fifth; claws microsocopically denticulate.

Stephanocircus dasyuri, sp. nov. Length of male, 1.90 mm.; of female, 2.80 mm. Castaneous brown, nitidous. Head of the male convex above, of female flat. Eyes of male small, black. Pectinal fringes and setæ black or dark brown Thorax long, in the female nearly the length of the body. Abdomen about twice as long as broad in the male, shorter in the female, darker castaneous brown in the female, bristly Legs of a uniform pale castaneous brown. Habitat—New South Wales, on Dasyurus maculatus, Kerr.”

* Pulex tuberculaticeps, Bezzi (Bull. della Soc. Entomo., Ital., XXII., 1890, “Notes on some Epizoic Insects”), belongs in Division 1, and is nearly related to P. globiceps. It was taken from Ursus arctos, and is characterized by the truncated and medially tuberculcated front, the subequal first and fifth joints of posterior tarsi, the slightly greater size and other minor details. Its position would be between kerguelensis and globiceps. I have been unable as yet to obtain specimens of fleas from bears in this country. It is, however, a well-known fact among hunters in the West that the grizzly and silver-tip are sometimes found “alive” with them.

* See Wagner, Horæ. Soc. Ent., Ross. T., XXIII., pl. X., fig. 25, k.