Fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) Collected from Some Small Mammals (Mammalia: Rodentia, Eulipotyphla) in Turkey, with New Records and New Host Associations

Abstract

Fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) are among the most common ectoparasites of small mammals. We investigated fleas infesting on the small mammals (Mammalia: Rodentia, Eulipotyphla) from 15 different localities in Turkey. A total of 276 flea (133 males and 143 females) specimens belonging to 32 different flea taxa were collected from 90 (42 males, 16 females and 32 undetermined) small mammals belonging to 20 different species. With many new flea-host associations, the first occurrences of Ctenophthalmus agyrtes peusianus Rosicky, Ctenophthalmus golovi golovi Ioff & Tiflov, Ctenophthalmus secundus vicarius Jordan & Rothschild, Doratopsylla dasycnema cuspis Rothschild, Leptopsylla algira popovi(Wagner & Argyropulo) and Rhadinopsylla pentacantha(Rothschild) fleas were reported in Turkey. In addition, three flea species, Ctenophthalmus coniunctus Peus, Ctenophthalmus contiger Peus, and Palaeopsylla incisa Peus, are reported for only the second time since their original descriptions.