Fleas (Siphonaptera) from vole nests in subarctic Alaska

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Haas, Glenn E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1982
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic; Ermine; Subarctic; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z82-276; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z82-276

Vole fleas totalling 2420 specimens were obtained from 160 of 291 nests, principally of Microtus spp., collected in 66 localities in five regions of Alaska below the Arctic Circle, from 1973 to 1980. Six taxa were in family Hystrichopsyllidae, three in Leptopsyllidae, and five in Ceratophyllidae. Seven taxa are known as Nearctic and six as Amphiberingian, and together in Alaska they form a complex of distribution patterns that was examined from a pentaregional viewpoint. Nearctic forms were preponderant, in numbers of individuals if not taxa, in the southeast, south central, and southwest regions; Amphiberingian forms were preponderant in the interior and especially the west central region. Rearing records suggested that three of the taxa have more than one generation per year. A few shrew, ground squirrel, and ermine fleas were also found in vole nests, and two taxa of vole fleas were reared from lemming nests.