THE ENTOMOLOaiST 



Vol. XLL] DECEMBEE, 1908. [No. 547 



A NEW SPECIES OF BAT-FLEA FEOM GREAT 



BRITAIN. 



By the Hon. N. Charles Rothschild, F.E.S. 

 (Plate VIII.) 



Nycteridopsylla longiceps, spec. nov. 



There are two five-combed bat-fleas in Great Britain, the 

 one being apparently identical with Kolenati's pentactenus, while 

 the other is new to science. This new species can easily be dis- 

 tinguished by the following characters : — 



Head. — The head is very long and narrow, the frontal portion 

 being about as long as the occipital portion (PI. Vlll. fig. 1). The 

 two bristles placed on the sides of the frontal portion are consequently 

 farther apart than in pentactenus. 



Thorax. — The epimerum of the metathorax bears four or five 

 bristles (1 or 2, 2,1). 



Abdomen. — The comb of the seventh tergite contains seventeen or 

 eighteen bristles. The seventh sternite is sinuate in the female, but 

 the lobe above the sinus is much shorter than the one below the 

 sinus (PI. Vlll. fig. 2), while in pentactenus the upper lobe projects 

 as far as the lower one. 



Legs. — The hind femur bears posteriorly near the apex but one 

 ventral bristle on each side. The bristles of the tibiae are distinctly 

 longer than in pentactenus, the longest apical one of the mid-tibia 

 reaching almost to the apex of the first tarsal segment. 



Modified Segments. — <? . The eighth tergite bears at the dorsal 

 edge five long bristles, and close to this row one or two smaller lateral 

 ones, there being also one or two lateral bristles behind, and some 

 distance from, the stigma. The eighth sternite, which is sinuate 

 ventrally in the centre, bears on each side an apical row of five long 

 bristles, proximally to which there are five or six shorter bristles. The 

 process (p) of the clasper is broad, being rounded on the proximal 



ENTOM. DEClSMJiER, 1908. 2 A 



