Natural History of the Prairie Vole (Mammalian Genus Microtus): [KU. Vol. 1 No. 7]Jameson, E. W. (Everett Williams)
Science
Natural History of the Prairie Vole (Mammalian Genus Microtus): [KU. Vol. 1 No. 7]
Jameson, E. W. (Everett Williams)
Microtus
Several kinds of fleas do not belong in either of the above groups. Some
fleas were accidental strays from mammals not included in table 6; and
one flea (_Rectofrontia fraterna_) may prove to be a common nest
parasite. _Orchopeas howardii_ is common on tree squirrels (_Sciurus
niger_ and _S. carolinensis_). _Nosopsyllus fasciatus_ is a cosmopolitan
flea on _Rattus norvegicus_. _Rectofrontia fraterna_ was taken once from
a prairie vole. Since the only specimens in the University of Kansas
Entomological Collections are from "mouse nests," this flea may be found
to be a nest inhabiting parasite.
Some fleas are possible bridges by which a blood parasite could be
transmitted from one kind of a mammal to another. If _Ctenophthalmus
pseudagyrtes_ acted as the intermediate host of a disease-causing
organism, an epizootic from _Microtus ochrogaster_ might be transmitted
to _Pitymys nemoralis_ or to _Sigmodon hispidus_ or _Blarina
brevicauda_. There are several other such potential bridges for blood
parasites. Although table 6 does not prove that individual fleas wander
from one host to another, the frequency with which the several kinds of
fleas are removed from live mice suggests that the fleas occasionally do
so.
LICE (ANOPLURA)
Lice collected from the prairie vole were all of one species,
_Hoplopleura acanthopus_ (Burmeister). Of 59 voles examined for the
presence of lice, 33 were found to be parasitized; the 59 voles had an
average of 3.4 lice each. Other mice which used the same runways as the
prairie vole had their own species of Anoplura. The cotton rat was host
to _Hoplopleura hirsuta_ Ferris, and the two species of _Peromyscus_
were parasitized by _Hoplopleura hesperomydis_ (Osborn).
The writer collected _Hoplopleura acanthopus_ from _Microtus
californicus_ at Calaveras Dam, Alameda County, California, and from _M.
pennsylvanicus_ at Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York. Elton, Ford,
Baker, and Gardner (1931) recorded this same species from _M. argestis_
in England.
Lice on the prairie vole are the same species as those found on other
species of _Microtus_ in other areas, but since Anoplura of the prairie
vole do not parasitize the cotton rat, the white-footed mouse, and the
deer mouse, this host specificity of lice makes it unlikely that lice
would carry blood parasites from the prairie vole to any of the latter
named rodents.
MITES (ACARINA EXCEPT IXODOIDEA)
Many of the small mammals examined in this study had mites, some of
which were collected and identified. Mites were collected from other
species of voles in several localities in the United States and in one
locality in Canada; as voles in widely separated regions are sometimes
hosts to the same species of mites, these records will be presented
here.
The frequency of some kinds of mites in the identified material suggests
that they are more abundant than other kinds. The occurrence of mites on
small mammals from Lawrence, Kansas, is presented in table 7.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account