Hectopsylla narium, Blank & Kutzscher & Masello & Pilgrim & Quillfeldt, 2007

Blank, Stephan M., Kutzscher, Christian, Masello, Juan F., Pilgrim, Robert L. C. & Quillfeldt, Petra, 2007, Stick-tight fleas in the nostrils and below the tongue: evolution of an extraordinary infestation site in Hectopsylla (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149 (1), pp. 117-137 : 119-121

BIONOMICS OF HECTOPSYLLA NARIUM

The fleas have been found on 204 of 380 studied nestlings of the burrowing parrot. An additional 100 adult parrots checked were completely free from fleas. Various larval stages and several teneral moult adults of both sexes have been collected from the sandy bottom of nine nest chambers. Within the studied colony flea larvae have also been found in tunnels of the parrot occupied by a barn owl [ Tyto alba tuidara (J.E. Gray, 1829) , Tytonidae ; one nest with five larvae studied] and southern martins [ Progne elegans (Baird, 1865) , Hirundinidae ; two nests studied, one with one larva]. Nestlings of the latter two species remained free from adult fleas.

Legend: 0, 1, 2 – character states; p – 0/1 polymorphism; q – 0/2 polymorphism; r – 1/2/3 polymorphism; s – 0/1/2 polymorphism; x – state not scored;? – state unknown or uncertain. See text for definitions of character states. In row 17 the character states for the H. broscus -group (rows 8–16) are summarized using polymorphic character states where necessary.

Freshly emerged adults of both sexes vivaciously crawl and can jump up to 25 cm in horizontal distance. Females become sessile by anchoring with their heavily denticulate lacinia in the host skin, remaining fully exposed. The uptake of blood distends their abdomen strongly by stretching the intersegmental membrane between the sclerotized terga and sterna ( Fig. 2 ).

Fig. 3. H . knighti (♀, holotype). Fig. 4. H . psittaci (♀). Fig. 5. H . pulex (♂). Fig. 6. H . pulex (♀).

EXTRAORDINARY INFESTATION SITE IN HECTOPSYLLA 121

The female/male sex ratio for the total number of specimens was 5.9: 1. Females ranged from four to 13 times as abundant as males on individual nestlings. Males were observed mating with females inside the nasal cavities, but they were never found feeding on the nestlings.

Feeding females have usually been found in the nasal cavity ( Fig. 27 ) and on the comparatively dry area under the tongue. Up to 11 live fleas or up to ten live and seven dead fleas were collected from the nostrils of individual nestlings (16 December 1999 to 3 January 2000). The respiration of such heavily infested nestlings was clearly impeded. An infestation under the tongue seems to occur mainly towards the end of the breeding season, when the nostrils are already largely occupied. On 26 December 2004 we found a nestling with 42 live fleas, 32 females and two males below the tongue and seven females and one male in the nostrils. We also found three nestlings with an infestation of the foot with one, one, 18 fleas, respectively. In the third case the fleas formed a crowded assemblage at the base of two toes.

Nestlings become infested at 7–14 days, when the diameter of the nostrils is large enough for fleas to pass ( Fig. 27 ). Females remain on the nestlings until they die in situ. Dead fleas are discernible by their darker colour and shrivelled body.

Continuous observations using a miniature security camera inside nest tunnels revealed that adult parrots groom their nestlings approximately every 4 h but not the nestlings’ nostrils or oral cavities. Adult parrots have been observed to groom their own nostrils with their claws.

Figures

Figures 1–6. Hectopsylla species. Fig. 1. H. narium sp. nov. (♂, holotype). Fig. 2. H. narium sp. nov. (♀, paratype).

Figures 27–28. Infestation sites of Hectopsylla species. Fig. 27. Hectopsylla narium sp. nov. in the nostril of Cyanoli-