Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical (INMeT-ANLIS); Ámbar y Almafuerte; CP 3370; Misiones; Argentina..
Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; CEPAVE (CONICET-UNLP); Blvd. 120 s/n e/ 60 y 64; CP 1900 La Plata; Argentina..
Zootaxa. 2023 Apr 17;5264(4):579-586. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5264.4.7.
The degree of host specificity of fleas varies from highly specific (monoxenous) to opportunistic (polyxenous). Specific parasite-host associations can be observed among some flea families and tribes and mammalian orders, such as fleas of the tribe Tritopsyllini (Ctenophthalmidae, Doratopsyllinae) and opossums (Didelphimorphia). Specimens of the family Didelphidae are common hosts of fleas of the genus Adoratopsylla (Ewing, 1925). In northern Argentina, Adoratopsylla (Adoratopsylla) antiquorum antiquorum (Rothschild, 1904) and Adoratopsylla (Tritopsylla) intermedia intermedia (Wagner, 1901) were recorded preferentially parasitizing opossums. In order to study parasite/host relationships, fleas were collected from opossums captured in different environments in the Paranaense Rainforest ecoregion, northern Misiones province between 2016 and 2018. A total of 287 fleas were collected from 110 opossums. The fleas were identified as Pulicidae: Ctenocephalides felis felis (Bouché, 1835); Rhopalopsyllidae: Polygenis (Polygenis) rimatus (Jordan, 1932), Polygenis (Polygenis) roberti roberti (Rothschild, 1905); Ctenophthalmidae: A. (T.) i. intermedia, A. (A.) a. antiquorum, Adoratopsylla (Adoratopsylla) antiquorum ronnai (Guimarães, 1954). We report for the first time in Argentina a male specimen of A. (A.) a. ronnai collected on Didelphis albiventris (Lund, 1840) (Didelphidae), and male and female specimens of P. (P.) r. roberti collected on Didelphis aurita (Wied-Neuwied, 1826), and we describe the expansion of the geographic and host distribution of fleas to the Paranaense Rainforest ecoregion. Our records reinforce the specific association between Adoratopsylla and Polygenis fleas and didelphid opossums, mentioned in the literature for the Atlantic Forest ecoregion in Brazil. Furthermore, we observed that flea communities in opossums change in a landscape gradient, with invasive cat fleas and euryxenous fleas common in anthropized areas, and endemic fleas common in natural areas. Our results underline the importance for public health and veterinary medicine the analysis of flea circulation between wild and urban environments due to the risk of pathogen transmission.
跳蚤的宿主特异性程度从高度特异性（单宿主）到机会性（多宿主）不等。在一些跳蚤科和部落以及哺乳动物目中可以观察到特定的寄生虫-宿主关联，例如蜱科的 Tritopsyllini 族（Ctenophthalmidae，Doratopsyllinae）和负鼠（Didelphimorphia）。袋狸科的标本是 Adoratopsylla 属跳蚤（Ewing，1925）的常见宿主。在阿根廷北部，记录到 Adoratopsylla（Adoratopsylla）antiquorum antiquorum（Rothschild，1904）和 Adoratopsylla（Tritopsylla）intermedia intermedia（Wagner，1901）优先寄生负鼠。为了研究寄生虫/宿主关系，从 2016 年至 2018 年在北部米西奥内斯省的巴拉那雨林生态区不同环境中捕获的负鼠身上采集了跳蚤。从 110 只负鼠身上共采集了 287 只跳蚤。这些跳蚤被鉴定为 Pulicidae：Ctenocephalides felis felis（Bouché，1835）；Rhopalopsyllidae：Polygenis（Polygenis）rimatus（Jordan，1932），Polygenis（Polygenis）roberti roberti（Rothschild，1905）；Ctenophthalmidae：A.（T.）i.intermedia，A.（A.）a.antiquorum，Adoratopsylla（Adoratopsylla）antiquorum ronnai（Guimarães，1954）。我们首次在阿根廷报告了 A.（A.）a.ronnai 的雄性标本，该标本采集自 Didelphis albiventris（Lund，1840）（袋狸科），以及 P.（P.）r.roberti 的雄性和雌性标本，采集自 Didelphis aurita（Wied-Neuwied，1826），并描述了跳蚤向巴拉那雨林生态区的地理和宿主分布范围的扩大。我们的记录加强了文献中提到的 Adoratopsylla 和 Polygenis 跳蚤与袋狸科负鼠之间的特定关联，这在巴西的大西洋森林生态区也有报道。此外，我们观察到负鼠体内的跳蚤群落随着景观梯度而变化，在人为化区域常见入侵性猫跳蚤和广宿主跳蚤，而在自然区域常见地方性跳蚤。我们的结果强调了由于病原体传播的风险，分析野生和城市环境之间跳蚤循环的重要性，这对公共卫生和兽医医学都很重要。
