38 Fleas of Eastern United States 



of small mammals. It very frequently occurs in company with 

 Doratopsylla blarinae C. Fox as a parasite of shrews, but the 

 mole is probably its most favored host. 



RECTOFRONTIA WAGNER AND ARGYROPOLO 

 Rectofrontia Wagner and Argyropolo, 1934, Zeitschr. Parasit., 7: 230. 

 Genotype: Typhlopsylla pentacanthus Rothschild 



Anterior border of the head produced into a prominent tooth. 

 Eye vestigial. Genal ctenidium consisting of four to six spines. 

 Ocular row made up of two bristles. Labial palpus five-seg- 

 mented. Males without antepygidial bristles, females with two 

 or three on a side. Fifth tarsal segment of each leg armed with 

 four pairs of lateral plantar bristles, without a basal submedian 

 pair. 



This genus is represented in the East by a single species 

 which is parasitic on various small mammals. 



Rectofrontia fraterna (Baker) 



(Plate X, figs. 44, 47, 48) 



1895 Typhlopsylla jraterna Baker, Can. Ent., 27:189. 



1904 Ctenophthalmus fratemus Baker, Proc. United States Nat. Mus., 

 27:423. 



1905 Ctenophthalmus fratemus Baker, Proc. United States Nat. Mus., 

 29: 135. 



1913 Rhadinopsylla jraterna Rothschild, The Entomologist. 46:297. 

 1937 Rectofrontia fraterna Jordan, Nov. Zool., 40: 270. 



Male. Bristles of the preantennal region of the head ar- 

 ranged in two rows. Upper row consisting of five or six bristles 

 of which the one closest to the antennal groove is the weakest; 

 lower row consisting of two long, stout bristles. Postantennal 

 region armed with three rows of bristles of which the most 

 anterior consists of four bristles, the middle of five, and the most 

 posterior or marginal row of seven or eight. Spines of the genal 

 ctenidium variable in number, when five are present they are 

 arranged as in Plate X, fig. 44, the middle three being longest. 

 Pronotum with a single row of alternating short and long 

 bristles and a ctenidium of ten or eleven spines on a side. 

 Meso- and metanotum each armed with two rows of bristles 

 anterior to which there may be another row consisting of two 

 or three bristles. Each abdominal tergite with two rows of 

 bristles. Some of the abdominal tergites further armed with 

 two to four teeth on a side. Modified segments: Process of the 



