Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sede Boqer Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8499000, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
Parasitol Res. 2020 Oct;119(10):3211-3220. doi: 10.1007/s00436-020-06867-1. Epub 2020 Sep 5.
We investigated the effects of host sex and flea phenology (estimated as periods of high versus low abundance) on individual body size in four fleas of small mammals. Amalaraeus penicilliger and Ctenophthalmus uncinatus are ectoparasites of the bank vole Myodes glareolus, whereas Doratopsylla dasycnema and Palaeopsylla soricis are ectoparasites of the common shrew Sorex araneus. We found significant effects of host sex and phenology on the body size of all flea species, although there was no general trend in the directions of these effects. Larger A. penicilliger were found on female hosts, whereas larger P. soricis were found on male hosts. In the remaining species, larger fleas were collected from male hosts during periods of high abundance (male C. uncinatus and female D. dasycnema) and from female hosts during periods of low abundance (male C. uncinatus). Regarding phenology, larger fleas were recorded during periods of either high (A. penicilliger, C. uncinatus, D. dasycnema) or low (C. uncinatus, P. soricis) abundance, but this depended on flea and/or host sex. We conclude that the directions of the host sex and phenology effects varied between flea species. Furthermore, the direction of the host sex effect was mediated by the effect of phenology and vice versa.
我们研究了宿主性别和跳蚤物候（估计为高丰度和低丰度时期）对四种小型哺乳动物跳蚤个体体型的影响。Amalaraeus penicilliger 和 Ctenophthalmus uncinatus 是 bank vole Myodes glareolus 的外寄生虫，而 Doratopsylla dasycnema 和 Palaeopsylla soricis 是 common shrew Sorex araneus 的外寄生虫。我们发现宿主性别和物候对所有跳蚤物种的体型都有显著影响，尽管这些影响的方向没有一般趋势。在雌性宿主上发现了更大的 A. penicilliger，而在雄性宿主上发现了更大的 P. soricis。在其余的物种中，在高丰度时期（雄性 C. uncinatus 和雌性 D. dasycnema）从雄性宿主上收集到更大的跳蚤，而在低丰度时期（雄性 C. uncinatus）从雌性宿主上收集到更大的跳蚤。关于物候，在高丰度（A. penicilliger、C. uncinatus、D. dasycnema）或低丰度（C. uncinatus、P. soricis）时期都记录到了更大的跳蚤，但这取决于跳蚤和/或宿主性别。我们得出结论，宿主性别和物候影响的方向在跳蚤物种之间有所不同。此外，宿主性别效应的方向受物候效应的调节，反之亦然。
