Phalacropsylla nivalis Barrera & Traub, 1967

Acosta, Roxana & Hastriter, Michael W., 2017, A review of the flea genus Phalacropsylla Rothschild, 1915 (Siphonaptera, Ctenophthalmidae, Neopsyllinae, Phalacropsyllini) with new host and distributional records, ZooKeys 675, pp. 27-43 : 28

Phalacropsylla nivalis Barrera & Traub, 1967

Phalacropsylla nivalis Barrera & Traub, 1967: 35-45; Barrera, 1968: 70, 77; Lewis, 1974: 153; Muñiz et al., 1981: 163; Ponce-Ulloa & Llorente-Bousquets, 1996: 558; Ayala-Barajas et al., 1988: 46; Adams & Lewis, 1995: 68.

Diagnosis.

Males of P. nivalis are separable from other species of Phalacropsylla except P. paradisea by the lack of a sinus in the apico-ventral margin of the basimere above the acetabulum (Figs 3, 5). Males are further distinguished from P. paradisea by the absence of long curved modified spiniform setae on the apex of DA9 (Figs 3, 5). See diagnosis of P. allos to differentiate females.

Material examined.

Mexico, State of Mexico, [Mirador del Poeta, N slope Mt.] Popocatépetl, 300 m SW Tlamacas, [~ 19.02°N, 98.38°W] 3900 m, s/ Neotoma [ Neotoma mexicana torquata], 19 IX 1963, A. Barrera, holotype ♂, allotype ♀ (USNM). Río Frío, 3100 m, N. mexicana , 17 I 1965, T. Álvarez and A. Barrera, paratype ♂; Popocatépetl, Mirador del Poeta, 3900 m, Peromyscus melanotis J.A. Allen and Chapman, 5 VII 1964, A. Barrera and T. Álvarez, paratype ♀, (MZFC-S).

Remarks.

Known only from type material from Popocatépetl mountain, Mexico. Specimens were taken from two different hosts: Neotoma and Peromyscus . Phalacropsylla nivalis is the most extreme southern species of the genus, occurring many hundreds of kilometers from its closest allied species, P. paradisea .