March, 1898.] BAKER: NOTES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF SlPHONAPTERA. 53 



NOTES ON SlPHONAPTERA, WITH DESCRIPTIONS 

 OF FOUR NEW SPECIES. 



By C. F. Baker. 



Early in the course of my studies on the Siphonaptera I wrote Dr. 

 Berg in Buenos Ayres, relative to the Pulex grossiventrix of Weyenberg 

 which I had referred to Sarcopsylla. He very kindly sent me speci- 

 mens of both male and female. These show some remarkable charac- 

 ters which justify the foundation of not only a new genus but a new 

 family. I would here again call attention to the fact that we have yet 

 no record of any fleas, from bats in this country. The bat species are 

 among the most interesting. I hope collectors having the opportunity 

 will certainly secure specimens from any of our bats. 



Family MEGAPSYLLID.E, fam. nov. 



Body very large in the pregoant female, but the abdomen does not lose the nor- 

 mal texture or structure, the sutures remaining distinct, although much connective 

 membrane is exposed between the plates. Antennie normal. Eyes very Jarge, ia a 

 rather small head. Mouth parts very stout, the labial palpi six or seven jointed 

 (impossible to say which without dissection). Fourth tarsal joint very small, more 

 or less connate with fifth, causiDg the tarsi to appear four-joiated. Last tarsal joint 

 and claws greatly en'arged, the spines on the former inclining to somewhat foliaceous. 



Megapsylla, gen. nov. 



Head evenly rounded above in female, uneven and unituberculate in front in the 

 male. Prothorax in the female with five or seven remote, short, stout, dark brown 

 teeth ; in the male unarmed. Fore tibice very small and short, but swollen. Max- 

 illre small, extending only to one-half of second joint of maxillary palpi. 



Megapsylla grossiventris ( Weyenb.'). 



1879, Weyenberg, Boletin de la Acad. Nat. de Ciencias Repub. Argent. Ill, 

 p. 188. {Pulex grossiventris.} 



1895, Baker, Can. Ent. XXVII, p. 3. {Sarcopsylla grossiventris.) 



Length of $ 2.5-3.5, °f 9 4 mm - to often 6.5 mm. when pregnant. Head and 

 thorax, with legs, reddish to dark brown, abdominal plates dark smoky. Edges of 

 antennal groove very minutely and thickly spinose. Sparingly bristled, but the 

 bristles stout ; the spines on the legs heavy, those on the fore tibire becoming very 

 thick and looth-like, and those on the fifth tarsal joint more or less flattened. Claws 

 very large and recurved to the length of the fifth tarsal joint. Dorsal segments each 

 with a single row of long bristles, six on a side. Upper claspers of male very large, 

 naked, twice as long as broad, sides subparallel, tips obliquely cut off downward and 

 backward. 



Lives on the Armadillo (Dasypus minutus) in the Argentine Re- 

 public (Weyenberg and Berg.) 



