54 Fleas of Eastern United States 



separated from the sticktight flea, Echidnophaga gallinacea, by 

 the presence of a pronotal ctenidium. 



Ceratophyllus niger C. Fox 



(Plate XIII, figs. 64, 65) 



1908 Ceratophyllus niger C. Fox, Ent. News, 19:434. 



1914 Ceratophyllus niger C. Fox, United States Public Health Ser. Hyg. 



Lab., Bull. 97, PI. VII, fig. 2; PL XIX, fig. 46. 

 1920 Ceratophyllus niger Jordan and Rothschild, Ectoparasites, 1:70. 

 1924 Ceratophyllus niger Ewing, Parasitology, 16: 343, PI. XIV, fig. 1. 



1928 Ceratophyllus niger Stewart, Cornell Univ. Agric. Exp. Sta., Mem. 

 101, p. 869. 



1929 Ceratophyllus niger Jordan, Nov. Zool., 35: 175. 

 1933 Ceratophyllus niger Jordan, Nov. Zool., 39: 75 



1933 Ceratophyllus niger Stewart, Jour. New York Ent. Soc, 41:255. 



Male. Upper row of the preantennal region armed with six 

 bristles, of which two located near the antennal groove are 

 much weaker than the others. Pronotum armed with thirteen 

 or fourteen spines on a side. Other details of general structure 

 as in other species of the genus. Modified segments: Process 

 of the clasper roughly triangular in shape, as wide at the base 

 as long, armed at the apex with one long bristle and two shorter 

 ones. Movable finger wide distally where the anterior margin 

 forms a spinelike protuberance; posterior margin armed with 

 two or three stout bristles and several much weaker ones. Penis 

 slender, ending in a curved process; spring very long, complet- 

 ing at least one turn. For further details concerning the struc- 

 ture of the male genitalia, see Plate XIII, fig. 64. 



Female. General structure and chaetotaxy essentially as in 

 the male. Head of the receptaculum seminis slender, much 

 longer than the tail. Sternite VII without a distinct sinus, its 

 posterior margin convex. For further details concerning the 

 structure of the female genitalia, see Plate XIII, fig. 65. 



Eastern host. Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis sialis 

 (Linnaeus) ) . 



Eastern locality. New York. 



Type material. Three females and two males on "Man" and 

 one male on "Mus decumanus" locality not given. Location of 

 the specimens not ascertained. 



This species is not uncommon in the West where it is often 

 taken from henhouses. The only record of its occurrence in the 

 East was published by Stewart (1928, 1933). Jordan has 

 doubted the record (1929) , and until further discoveries are 

 made, its presence in the East is questionable. The above 



