REVISION OF THE FLEA GENUS 

 PEROMYSCOPSYLLA 



By PHYLLIS T. JOHNSON 



AND 



ROBERT TRAUB 



Departfiient of Entomology 



Army Medical Service Graduate School 



Walter Reed Army Medical Center 



Washington, D. C. 



Fleas of the genus Peromyscopsylla I. Fox, 1939 (family Cerato- 

 phyllidae, subfamily Leptopsyllinae), are characteristic parasites of 

 murid and cricetid rodents and are distributed throughout much of 

 Europe, Asia, and North America. For these reasons they are of po- 

 tential medical importance. Although 20 forms of Peromyscopsylla 

 have been considered valid up to the present time, on the whole this 

 group of fleas has been poorly known and inadequately figured. A 

 revision of the genus is necessary for the following reasons : ( i ) Con- 

 siderable confusion exists as to the identity and status of the various 

 forms; (2) the range of certain species is far greater than is generally 

 appreciated; and (3) as originally defined the genus was limited to 

 North America. 



The present paper redescribes and illustrates the known forms, two 

 names are considered synonyms and two other nomenclatorial changes 

 are made, and the heretofore unknown female of P. draco Hopkins, 

 1951, the male of P. ostsihirica longiloha (Jordan, 1939), new status, 

 and a new subspecies of P. hamifer are described. The aedeagus of 

 this genus is of a distinctive type, and, as indicated in a subsequent 

 section of this paper, a comparative study of its morphology sheds 

 light on the affinities of the various species. 



The authors wish to express their deep appreciation to the following 

 specialists who generously allowed the study of their collections : 

 E. W. Jameson, Jr., University of California; Frank A. Prince, 

 W. L. Jellison, H. B. Morlan, and H. D. Pratt of the U. S. Public 

 Health Service ; G. P. Holland, Canada Department of Agriculture ; 

 G. A. Augustson of the Madera County (California) Mosquito Abate- 

 ment District ; C, F. Muesebeck, U. S. Department of Agriculture ; 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 123, NO. 4 



