Darskaia N F, Malygin V M
Parazitologiia. 1996 Mar-Apr;30(2):187-90.
The material collected from 57 specimens of 9 mammalian species in two localities of the Peruvian Amazonia includes 212 specimens of fleas belonging to four species (Polygenis klagesi, Ropalopsyllus lugubris, Rh. australis and Rothschildopsylla noctilionis). This is the first record of fleas in the Ucayali River basin. The majority of flea specimens were collected form three morphologically similar but karyotypically and electrophoretically distinct species of spiny rats of the genus Proechimys. These fleas belong to the species P. klagesi. The subspecies P. k. samuelis was collected from 32-chromosome spiny rats nearby Pucallpa (8 degrees 22' S, 74 degrees 43' W), whereas in the locality nearby the village Jenaro Errera (4 degrees 52' S, 73 degrees 39' W) only the nominative subspecies P. k. klagesi were collected from all three species of spiny rats. Other species of fleas have relatively less abundance. Six fleas Rh. l. lugubris were found on one specimen of Cuniculus paca; a single Rh. australis--on one specimen of Myoprocta pratti; and a single R. noctilionis--on one specimen of Eptesicus brasiliensis.