Focus on Fleas. The Rothschild Collection of Fleas: The Ceratophyllidae

摘要

As in the previous volumes, the specimens in the Rothschild and British Museum collections are listed. A detailed account of morphology and a table of comparative morphology of the closely related family Leptopsyllidae are illustrated by 205 line-drawings and 90 photomicrographs of definitive structures of each genus. The sections on zoogeography and distribution, and the notes on hosts, include comments on the ecology of each ceratophyllid species. A distribution map accompanies the introductory remarks for each genus. The review of hosts of ceratophyllids is a classic exposition of host-parasite relationships, special reference being made to the historical distribution of the chief hosts. An account of the evolution of the Ceratophyllidae from the standpoints of historical biogeography and host-relationships, morphology, taxonomy, phylogeny, physiology, behavior and geological age are discussed. In the chapter on medical importance, Traub stresses that ceratophyllids do not have a large role in the epidemiology of plague and murine typhus but are clearly important as vectors of zoonotic agents among small mammals, primarily rodents, which are the ultimate source of human disease.