The genus Ctenophthalmus Kolenati, 1856 (Siphonaptera: Ctenophthalmidae) in the Afrotropical region. Description of a new taxon; distribution and specificity of the subgenera Ethioctenophthalmus, Geoctenophthalmus and Idioctenophthalmus

The genus Ctenophthalmus Kolenati, 1856 (Siphonaptera: Ctenophthalmidae) in the Afrotropical region. Description of a new taxon; distribution and specificity of the subgenera Ethioctenophthalmus, Geoctenophthalmus and Idioctenophthalmus. As vectors of the plague bacillus (Yersinia pestis) and other neglected agents (Rickettsia, Bartonella) fleas of small mammals should, in endemic areas, be inventoried, their distribution documented, and their specificity as well as their vector capacity assessed. Such is partly the objective of the present work, which attempts to update the list of species of a particularly abundant and widely distributed flea genus in the afrotropical region, the genus Ctenophthalmus. The present work summarizes available knowledge for the genus Ctenophthalmus in Africa, presents some new data and corrects erroneous data from the literature. A new subspecies, Ctenophthalmus (Ethioctenophthalmus) calceatus obesus Beaucournu & Prie n. ssp. is described from Burundi based on material collected by C. Guiguen et J. Vissault in 1978. The different taxa (76 species and subspecies) are grouped into informal groups ("species groups" initially defined by Smit in 1963) and we propose a new group, the cophurus group. We recall for each taxon the available data on type locality and type material, type host, known distribution and other known hosts. For the latter, a special attention has been paid to recent taxonomic changes and to the hosts distribution. A map has been produced for each taxa. The distribution we observe, taxon by taxon, does not correspond to this day to that of these Siphonaptera, but rather to that of the researchers efforts. Specificity - despite an obvious bias linked to intensive trapping effort in the context of eco-epidemiological studies - shows the preponderance of Muridae as hosts, but the potential importance of small burrowing mammals (rodents and insectivores) in Ctenophthalmus occurrence is poorly known. A better knowledge of the species and their distribution should help a better understanding of the selvatic plague in Africa.

Publication year:2019

Keywords:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:yes

BOF-publication weight:0.5

CSS-citation score:1

Authors:International

Authors from:Higher Education

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