XENOPSYLLA 



869 



or P. ivritans dugesi from West Mexico on Citellus macroums and 

 man, but is the only person who indicates this. 



P. irritans is also found on animals, particularly the badger 

 {Meles taxus) in England; on dogs, cats, rats, and other animals in 

 various parts of the world. 



Xenopsylla Glinkkewicz, 1907. 



Synonym, — LcBmopsylla Jordan and Rothschild, 1908. 



PulicifKB with third segment of antennae distinctly segmented 

 only on posterior side. Eye round; one bristle below, one in front 

 of eye, third at oral edge. Frons without tubercle; four-segmented 

 labial palpus; closed antennal groove. Pleura of the mesosternite 

 divided by a suture into an episternite and an epimerite, with the 

 dorsal apical bristle of the seventh abdominal tergite remote from 

 the edge of the segment, with short spines on the inner surface of 

 che coxa of the third leg, with a rod-like incrassation on the inside 

 of the coxa of the second leg; fifth tarsal segment with four lateral 

 bristles besides the subapical hair. 



Male with clasper provided with two. or three small processes; 

 manubrium narrow; upper internal portion of the ninth sternite 

 not very sharply defined. 



Female with the stylet bearing, besides the long apical bristle, 

 a short bristle situated in a notch before apex. 



Type. — Xenopsylla cheopis Rothschild, This genus is found in 

 Africa and Central Asia in particular. 



At the time of writing there are some twenty-four species known. 



Xenopsylla cheopis Rothschild, 1903. 



Synonyms. — LcBmopsylla cheopis Rothschild, igo^ ; Pulex cheopis 

 Rothschild, 1903; P. brasiliensis Baker, 1904; P. murinus Tira- 

 boschi, 1904; P. philippinensis Herzog, 1904. 



This is the rat -flea in all parts of the tropics, and is believed to 

 be the principal transmitter of bubonic plague from the rat to man. 

 Its home is believed to be the Nile Valley, where it lives on various 

 hosts, but it has spread from there by the agency of the rats. 



It is often referred to in literature by the name P. pallidiis 

 Taschenberg, which is really a different species. 



Jordan and Rothschild report it on man or animals from the 

 Egyptian Sudan, Pretoria, Beira in East Africa, Entebbe, Uganda, 

 Benguella, Angola, Reunion, Marseilles, Plymouth, Aden, Bombay, 

 Agra, Arabia, Japan, West Australia, New South Wales, Colombia, 

 Paraguay. 



They have found it on man, Epimys norvegicus, E. ratlus, Mus 

 chrysophilus , and several other animals. 



Morphology. — Episternum of metathorax separated from ster- 

 num. The latter carries a bristle as long as that on the former. 

 Hind femur angulate vent rally at the widest part. Fifth segment 

 of fore- and mid-tarsi, with three spine-like bristles, ventrally at 

 apex; lateral ones very stout in male. Clasper with two distinct 

 free processes; manubrium long. Penis without a brush near apex. 



