Araeopsylla goodmani Hastriter

Hastriter, Michael W., 2016, Description of two new species of bat fleas of the genus Araeopsylla (Siphonaptera) from Kenya and Madagascar with notes on miscellaneous bat fleas, ZooKeys 572, pp. 7-21 : 8-10

Taxon classification Animalia Siphonaptera Ischnopsyllidae

Araeopsylla goodmani Hastriter sp. n. Figs 1-5, 6-7

Diagnosis.

Female distinguished from all other Araeopsylla species by the shape of the caudal margin of S-VII. The caudal margin lacks lobes but has a broad concave margin extending to near the ventral margin which terminates in a right angled lobe. The apex of the lobe has a small sinus (Fig. 6).

Description.

Head. Frons smoothly rounded; frontal row of 19 setae, each successively stouter from oral angle to top of falx; more dorsal setae spiniform. Area between margin of frons and frontal row of setae clear, white, without surface structure except at extreme upper limit with one placoid pit. Eight minute setae post-frontal row and group of 10 mixed setae (spiniform, short and long) dorsal to row of eight setae. Of these, one seta adjacent to eye, very stout and long, extending beyond posterior margin of head. Gena darkly sclerotized, tapering to upturned apex. Eye vestigial, dark pigmented area merging with gena. Two genal teeth; anterior most tooth broader and blunter than posterior tooth. Pre-oral tuber divided into three portions; most posterior strongly hooked downward to pointed apex. Falx well demarcated. Post-antennal area with row of six stout setulae along dorsal margin of antennal fossa. Four rows of setae dorsal to setulae (4, 2, 3, 8); posterior main row without intercalaries and ventral four spiniform and grouped together (characteristic of the genus). Occiput with three dorsal incrassations. Antennal scape with a few minute setae. Margin of pedicel with hyaline extension over first three segme1nts of clavus; along margin of hyaline area are five or six fine long setae extending to seventh or eighth segment of clavus. Maxilla truncate; shaped like a trumpet at apex. Labial palpus of five segments (excluding bulbous palp-bearing segment); penultimate segment longer than other segments (all being quite short). Labial palpus extending about half length of fore coxa. Length of maxillary palpus similar to labial palpus. Galea and lacinia shorter than labial palpus (Figs 1-2).

Thorax. Pronotum with 18-20 ctenidia; all shorter than length of pronotum. Ctenidia tapered to point, but not sharp at apex. Pronotum with main row of setae minute; more anterior scattered small setae and one long ventral seta. Each thoracic tergum with dorsal incrassations. Twelve stout setae grouped over sclerotic dome of pleural rod. Pleural rod merges with sclerotic dome slightly behind middle of dome. Mesosternum truncate; metasternum diminished but oblique along margin. Metanotum with horizontal row of four setae near interface with dorsal incrassations; one short spinelet at dorsal apex. Lateral metanotal area with one short and one long seta. Metepisternum with one long seta at dorsal margin. Four or five stout (nearly spiniform) setae below level of spiracle on metepimeron. Spiracle on metepimeron large and round (Fig. 4).

Legs. Upper portion of fore coxa very narrow; marginal row of six long setae on upper caudal margin. About 17-18 long lateral setae excluding marginals. All femora lacking lateral or mesal setae. Fore femorotibial joint with one long seta, Meso- and metafemorotibial joints each with two long setae. Lateral surface of fore tibia with six setae; meso- and metatibiae each with eight setae. Dorsal margin of fore tibia with about 10 dorsal notches; meso- (2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2) and metatibiae (2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2) each with eight dorsal notches. From proximal to distal, each succeeding tarsus shorter than preceding segment. Each distitarsomere with five lateral plantar bristles; proximal pair placed between second pair on plantar surface (Fig. 1, 4).

Unmodified abdominal segments. Spiracles round on T-II-VII; each segment with one dorsal incrassation and heavily pigmented band extending below incrassation. Terga each with one row of three small setae; single dorsal seta separated from two more ventral setae by large gap. One seta of each row located below spiracle. Heavy sclerotization on ventral surface of S-II–VII. Single row of setae on S-II–VI (1, 2, 2, 3, 3). One antesensilial bristle at margin of T-VII; with internal sclerotized incrassation at base of bristle. Two minute setae on each side of antesensilial bristle (Fig. 3).

Modified abdominal segments. Dorsal portion of T-VIII sclerotized cephalad to trumpet shaped spiracle; all setae below spiracle eight. About 14 setae grouped on apical portion of T-VIII. Caudal margin of S-VII concave to near ventral margin terminating in truncate lobe with small apical sinus. Ventral margin of S-VII with heavy sclerotization; with oblique row of four to six lateral setae (Fig. 6). Sternum eight reduced; without setae. Bursa copulatrix undulate; moderately sclerotized entire length (Fig. 7). Hilla of spermatheca more than twice length of bulga; bulga spherical with cribriform area at ventor. Junction of bulga and hilla hardly distinguishable (Fig. 5).

Dimensions.

Female holotype: 2.2 mm, female average: 2.1 mm (n = 3), range: 2.0-2.2 mm.

Etymology.

The new species epithet goodmani is named in honor of its collector, Dr. Steven M. Goodman, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL for his untiring efforts and excellent contributions to the field of mammalogy, specifically for his work on bats and small mammals in Madagascar from which these specimens were obtained.

Remarks.

Although the respective male and female sexes of the two new flea species described in this paper were both collected from the bat genus Chaerephon representing two species [ Chaerephon bivittatus (Heuglin, 1861) from Kenya and Chaerephon jobimena Goodman and Cardiff, 2004 from Madagascar], they do not represent the same species of flea. Chaerephon bivittatus and Chaerephon jobimena are allopatric in their distributions. Although there exists some sexual dimorphism among fleas, these females differ drastically from the male described below as Araeopsylla smiti . Characteristics examined included major differences in the nature of the genal teeth, pre-oral tuber, pronotal comb, shape of the gena, variations in chaetotaxy of head and abdomen, and abdominal incrassations.

Araeopsylla lumareti Smit, 1958 (known only from the male sex) could potentially represent the male of this new species for which only females are known; however, this is doubtful based on their differences in hosts, morphology, and geographical remoteness. Araeopsylla lumareti is known only from the type locality in Cambodia from "bat guano" opposed to the occurrence of Araeopsylla goodmani in Madagascar from Chaerephon jobimena , which is endemic to Madagascar. The frontal row of setae of males of Araeopsylla lumareti are comprised of "small setae" and the occiput is "without marked dorsal incrassations" ( Smit 1958). The frontal row setation of Araeopsylla goodmani range from small setae to spiniform setae, the occiput is with marked dorsal incrassations, and the first genal tooth is much broader than that of Araeopsylla lumareti . Based on these observations, I am confident that the male of Araeopsylla lumareti does not represent the male counter-part of Araeopsylla goodmani . Additional collecting of fleas from Lagaropsylla jobimena in Madagascar and from the temple of Angkor-Vat in Cambodia is needed to discover the males of Araeopsylla goodmani and the females of Araeopsylla lumareti .

Several species of the bat genus Chaerephon have yielded several bat flea species of the genus Lagaropsylla ( Beaucournu 2004, Beaucournu and Fain 1983, Beaucournu and Fontenille 1993, Beaucournu and Kock 1994a, and Klein and Uilenberg 1966), but this is the first record of Araeopsylla collected from the bat genus Chaerephon throughout Madagascar or tropical Africa.

Type material examined.

Madagascar, Fianarantsoa Province: Isalo, 3.8 km NW Ranohira, along Namaza River (22°32'24"S, 45°22'48"E), Chaerephon jobimena ♂, 1 XII 2002, SMG, (SGM-13344-1, holotype ♀, SGM-13344-2, paratype ♀, FMNH) (SGM-13344-3, paratype ♀, BYUC).