Fleas (Siphonaptera) Parasitizing Peridomestic and Indigenous Mammals in Panamá and Screening of Selected Fleas for Vector-Borne Bacterial Pathogens

Abstract

In total, 341 fleas belonging to 16 species were collected from 78 host mammals belonging to 10 species in Panamá from 2010 to 2016. The cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché) predominated on domestic dogs and was also recorded from domestic cats, the raccoon, Procyon lotor (Linnaeus) and the common opossum, Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus. The largest number of flea species (7) was recorded from D. marsupialis and the most common flea on that host was the ctenophthalmid, Adoratopsylla intermedia copha Jordan. One Oriental rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild), was collected from D. marsupialis. Native rodents were parasitized by indigenous ceratophyllid, rhopalopsyllid, and stephanocircid fleas. The Mexican deermouse, Peromyscus mexicanus (Saussure), was parasitized by six species of ceratophyllids belonging to the mostly Central American genera, Baculomeris, Jellisonia, Kohlsia and Plusaetis. The long-tailed singing mouse, Scotinomys xerampelinus (Bangs), was parasitized by Plocopsylla scotinomi Tipton and Méndez, the only species of stephanocircid flea known from Central America. Twenty-six pools of extracted flea DNA representing 5 flea species (C. felis, Pulex echidnophagoides (Wagner), Pulex simulans Baker, A. intermedia copha, and P. scotinomi) and 79 individual fleas were all real-time polymerase chain reaction negative for Rickettsia felis, Rickettsia typhi, and Bartonella henselae.

Flea (Insecta: Siphonaptera) Family Diversity

“…Molecular studies of fleas are increasing, but many taxa are described only morphologically and could be re-examined using new techniques in order to clarify their taxonomy. Better knowledge of fleas may help prevent diseases caused by some fleas as pests, parasites, or vectors of pathogens [27,52,83,103,[142][143][144][145][146].…”

Flea (Insecta: Siphonaptera) Family Diversity

“…They could be re-examined using new techniques in order to clarify their systematics. Better knowledge on fleas may help manage diseases caused by some fleas that are parasitic pests and vectors of pathogens [27,56,86,106,[145][146][147][148][149].…”

>b<Ectoparasitofauna (Acari: Ixodida and Gamasida; Insecta:Siphonaptera) from terrestrial mammals>/b<: diversity, taxonomic aspects and associated zoonotic rickettsiales in Legado das Águas - Reserva Votorantim, in Tapiraí and Miracatu, São Paulo

“…This family has 44 genera worldwide, but only the species Nosopsyllus fasciatus (Bosc, 1800), occurs in Brazil and has been associated with wild and synanthropic rodents (Lewis, 1993). It can also erratically parasitize dogs and humans, assuming a potential role as a vector of bacteria pathogens (Špitalská et al, 2015;Durden;Hinkle, 2019), as well as protozoa pathogens (Molyneux, 1969). Nowadays, this genus is considered cosmopolitan due to human locomotion and consequent accidental transport of rodents (Lewis, 1993).…”

“…The species X. cheopis, considered the most efficient vector for Y. pestis, is frequently found in several regions of Brazil, parasitizing wild animals and synanthropic rodents (Salvador et al, 2007;. In addition, this bacterium can happen in two types of ecosystems: 1) in anthropized environments, with rodents of the genus Rattus and Mus that harboring the vector and disseminating the pathogen to companion animals and humans, this cycle is called urban plague; 2) in rural or wild environments, far from large cities, where the vector is maintained in small wild mammals (mainly rodents and marsupials), called wild plague (Durden;Hinkle, 2019).…”

“…Urdapilleta;Lareschi, 2019;Durden et al, 2021). This genus is divided into the subgenera Tritopsylla Cunha 1914 and Adoratopsylla, and five species have been recorded in Brazil: A.…”