UNITED STATES 

 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Miscellaneous Publication No. 500 



Washington, D. C. 



February 1943 



THE FLEAS OF NORTH AMERICA 



Classification, Identification, and Geographic Distribution of 

 These Injurious and Disease- Spreading Insects 



By H. 



E. Ewing, entomologist, and Irving Fox, collaborator, 1 Division of Insect 

 Identification, Burea\u of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 1 



The economic importance of fleas 3 



The structure of the siphonapteran head 4 



The thorax 1 6 



The modified terminal abdominal segments... 8 

 The origin and relationships of the Siphonap- 

 tera 10 



The order Siphonaptera 13 



Key to the families and subfamilies of 



Siphonaptera 14 



The family Dolichopsyllidae Baker ... 15 



The subfamily Vcrmipsvllinae Wae- 



ner 15 



The subfamily Ehopalopsyllinae Ou- 



demans 20 



The subfamily Dolichopsvllinae 



Baker . 23 



The subfamily Uropsyllinae Oude- 



mans 73 



The family Hystrichopsyllidae Tira- 



boschi 74 



The subfamily Ctenophthalminae 



Rothschild 75 



Page 



The order Siphonaptera— Continued. 



The family Hystrichopsyllidae Tira- 

 bcschi— Continued. 

 The subfamily Hystrichopsyllinae 



Tiraboschi 84 



The subfamily Macropsyllinae Oude- 



mans 89 



The subfamily Leptopsvllinae Roths- 

 child 89 



The family Ischnopsyllidae Wahlgren 96 



The family Pulicidae Stephens 101 



The subfamily Spilopsyllinae Oude- 



mans . 102 



The subfamily Chimaeropsyllinae, 



new subfamily * 115 



The subfamily Pulicinae Tiraboschi.. 116 



The family Stephanocircidae Wagner 119 



The family Hectopsyllidae Baker 119 



List of synonyms of North American species 



and subspecies 123 



Literature cited 124 



Illustrations (figs. 4-13) 129 



Taxonomic index 139 



INTRODUCTION 



The stress of war and the resulting concentration of people intensify 

 flea problems and the danger of serious outbreaks of flea-borne dis- 

 eases, for fleas figure prominently in the health, efficiency, and comfort 

 of large numbers of people throughout the world. Such disease- as 

 bubonic plague and endemic typhus are carried to man by these insects, 

 which also play an important role as pests of livestock and in 

 dwellings and warehouses. 



« During the preparation of this work the writers have been aided in various ways by the 

 following persons : Karl Jordan, of the Tring Museum, England: N. E. Good and F M 

 Prince, of tne U. S. Public Health Service ; and E. A. Chapin. of the U. S. National Museum. 

 lhey have also drawn to some extent upon data, published or unpublished (correspondence 

 notes with specimens, etc.). left by the late N. C. Rothschild, of England : the late Carroll 

 Fox of the I. S. Public Health Service; and B. J. Collins, formerly of the U. S. Public 

 t-c/x- - vic ?\r 0ther specialists on the Siphonaptera have kindly deposited types at the 

 L. S. National Museum and in this manner have greatly aided in the determination of the 

 synonymy of our North American species. Among them are the following: W. L Jellison 



, lie ■ I'- Kohls ' of thp u - s - Public Health Service: C. A. Hubbard, of Pacific University: 

 and Chi-ling Liu. of National University of Chekiang. Hangchow, China. 



4674.-0—43 1 



