Phalacropsylla oregonensis Lewis & Maser, 1978

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 oregonensis Lewis & Maser, 1978

Phalacropsylla paradisea Allred, 1968: 71 (specimen in BYUC, misidentification); Baird & Saunders, 1992: 9 (quoted misidentification of Allred, 1968).

Phalacropsylla oregonensis Lewis & Maser, 1978: 147-150; Lewis & Lewis, 1985: 149; Lewis, et al., 1988: 90; Adams & Lewis, 1995: 68.

Diagnosis.

Males differ from P. paradisea and P. nivalis by the absence of a sinus on the apico-ventral margin of the basimere. A small sinus is indicated, but its depth is much less than its width (Fig. 4). Readily differs from P. allos and P. morlani by the lack of modified long spiniform setae at the apex of DA9 (See diagnosis for P. allos ). Of the two species whose lobes on the margin of S-VII are wider than long, the lobe of P. oregonensis is more triangular, bluntly pointed, and curved downward than that of P. paradisea . The latter is broadly rounded at apex.

Material examined.

USA: Idaho, Bonneville County, NRTC, Idaho Falls, P. maniculatus , 21 X 1966, [D.E. Beck], coll. code: 36HF, 1♂ (BYUC). Oregon, Malheur County, Succor Creek State Park [~ 43.28°N, 117.08°W], Neotoma lepida Thomas, 15 V 1975, C.O. Maser, holotype ♂ USNM No. 75247; same data except P. maniculatus , allotype ♀ [MWH re-mounted holotype and allotype, as original medium was crystalized] (USNM).

Remarks.

Allred (1968) recorded one male from P. maniculatus collected at the National Reactor Testing Station in southern Idaho as P. paradisea but was misidentified and is herein referred to P. oregonensis . This specimen and the type series from eastern Oregon are the only known representatives of this species. In addition to the specimens examined, P. oregonensis was also collected from Peromyscus crinitus (Merriam) ( Lewis and Maser 1978) (Table 1). The medium in which the holotype and allotype specimens was originally mounted was crystalized, obstructing the specimens from view. The specimens were removed from the slides with xylene, remounted in Canada balsam, and are now adequately preserved.