Flea diversity and prevalence on arid-adapted rodents in the Oriental Basin, Mexico

Abstract

Inventorying biodiversity is basic for conservation and natural resources management because constant loss of natural areas increases the need for fast biodiversity inventories. Desert flea diversity and associations are not well known in Mexican deserts, especially in the Oriental Basin (OB).

Diversity, distribution and parasitism rates of fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) on sigmodontine rodents (Cricetidae) from Argentinian Patagonia

“…Positive correlations have been reported between flea diversity and the diversity of their small mammalian hosts in the Palaearctic (Krasnov et al, 2004) and localities of Brazil (Linardi & Krasnov, 2012). However, a similar relationship was found neither in the Nearctic (Krasnov et al, 2007), nor in North America and Mexico (Acosta & Fernández, 2015). In the Argentinian Patagonia, the most diverse mammals are the sigmodontine rodents, represented by 17 genera and about 25 species (Patton et al, 2015), but this diversity is not the highest for Argentina.…”

Fleas of mammals and patterns of distributional congruence in northwestern Argentina: A preliminary biogeographic analysis

“…Flea diversity in an area is not determined only by host species, but by environmental parameters inherent to the habitat, that will determine nest and den conditions (temperature, humidity, and construction material) ( Krasnov et al., 1997 ). All these characteristics will complete basic flea needs like food, habitat, and mating opportunities ( Marshall, 1981 ), favoring flea species and population abundance ( Acosta and Fernandez, 2015 ). Although the detailed knowledge of temperature and humidity preferences of fleas is scarce ( Krasnov et al., 2001 ); in general, successful development of pre-imaginal fleas takes place at air temperatures greater than 10–15 °C, but lower than 30 °C, and relative humidity greater than 60% ( Marshall, 1981 ; Krasnov, 2008 ).…”

Host species influence on flea (Siphonaptera) infection parameters of terrestrial micromammals in a temperate forest of Mexico

“…Such as in other regions of North America and Mexico, Myomorphs rodents of the genus Peromyscus dominated wild micromammal assemblages (Calisher et al ., 2005; Sánchez-Cordero et al ., 2005), this contrasts with the lower frequency of Soricomorph individuals. Particularly, the highest relative abundance of host species in the whole sample as N. alstoni , P. melanotis and P. difficilis agrees with findings in other locations of the TVB (Fa et al ., 1990; Sánchez-Cordero and Canela-Rojo, 1991), Nuevo León (Tipton and Mendez, 1968) and the Oriental Basin (Acosta and Fernández, 2015). The number of flea species found here, involved non-parantropic flea species differing to previously reported Pulex irritans in lagomorphs at LMNP (Acosta and Fernández, 2005).…”

“…alstoni have been found among the hosts with more flea species in the mice community. Peromyscus difficilis had seven species in environs of Popocatépetl, nine in the Oriental Basin (Barrera, 1968; Acosta and Fernández, 2015) and 10 in Cerro Potosí (Tipton and Mendez, 1968), while N . alstoni had the highest flea richness in the previous study in LMNP (Acosta and Fernández, 2005) with 6 flea species.…”

“…Hence, some rodent species regularly show high flea prevalence (FP). For instance, Peromyscus melanotis Allen and Chapman (1897), Microtus mexicanus Saussure (1861) and Peromyscus difficilis Allen (1891) have shown high flea infections measured as FP or FMA in several sites of the TVB including Chichinautzin hill and Popocatépetl volcano (environs of Popocatépetl), Cerro Potosí Nuevo León and the Oriental Basin (Barrera, 1968; Tipton and Mendez, 1968; Acosta and Fernández, 2015).…”