Flea, lice, mite, and tick species associated with 510 Rhabdomys pumilio were collected at 9 localities in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The aims of the study were first to quantify the species richness, prevalence, and relative mean intensity of infestation of epifaunistic arthropod species associated with R. pumilio, and second to determine temporal variations in the mean abundance of the parasitic arthropods. Each mouse was examined under a stereoscopic microscope and its parasites were removed, identified, and quantified. The epifaunal population was made up of more than 25,000 individuals and included 8 flea, 1 sucking louse, 11 mite, and 13 ixodid tick species. Female-biased sex ratios were noted for 9 (30%) of the ectoparasite species. Three undescribed mite and 1 undescribed tick species were recovered, and new locality records for 2 flea, the louse, and 2 mite species were documented. A phoretic host association between a nonparasitic mite species, Psylloglyphus uilenbergi kivuensis, and 3 flea species, Chiastopsylla rossi, Hypsophthalmus temporis, and Listropsylla agrippinae, was recorded. The mean abundance of the parasitic mite and insect species were higher during the cold wet season, whereas ticks were more numerous during the warm dry months. The large number of ectoparasite species on R. pumilio, a locally abundant and regionally widespread species, is of medical and veterinary importance particularly in relation to the transmission of pathogens such as Anaplasma marginale, Babesia caballi, and Babesia canis to domestic animals; Rickettsia conori; Yersinia pestis; and the viral disease Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever to humans.

This study presents a revision of the fleas (Siphonaptera) in Chile, gathered from 1993-2013 in response to a request to update our knowledge of the fauna of this country, as catalogued by Beaucournu & Gallardo in 1991 and 1992. For each taxon we give the depository of the type, the main references concerning it, its general distribution, particularly in Chile, and its known hosts, mainly in this country. Our review of the existing literature on fleas of Chile gives information on a total of 8 families, 11 subfamilies, 31 genera, 9 subgenera and 112 species (with 11 subspecies). The hosts are represented by 21 families of mammals (91 species) and 16 of birds (27 species). In addition we present 21 new reports of fleas for Chile and 165 new localities.

Rickettsioses and bartonelloses are arthropod-borne diseases of mammals with widespread geographical distributions. Yet their occurrence in specific regions, their association with different vectors and hosts and the infection rate of arthropod-vectors with these agents remain poorly studied in South-east Asia. We conducted entomological field surveys in the Lao PDR (Laos) and Borneo, Malaysia by surveying fleas, ticks, and lice from domestic dogs and collected additional samples from domestic cows and pigs in Laos. Rickettsia felis was detected by real-time PCR with similar overall flea infection rate in Laos (76.6%, 69/90) and Borneo (74.4%, 268/360). Both of the encountered flea vectors Ctenocephalides orientis and Ctenocephalides felis felis were infected with R. felis. The degrees of similarity of partial gltA and ompA genes with recognized species indicate the rickettsia detected in two Boophilus spp. ticks collected from a cow in Laos may be a new species. Isolation and further characterization will be necessary to specify it as a new species. Bartonella clarridgeiae was detected in 3/90 (3.3%) and 2/360 (0.6%) of examined fleas from Laos and Borneo, respectively. Two fleas collected in Laos and one flea collected in Borneo were co-infected with both R. felis and B. clarridgeiae. Further investigations are needed in order to isolate these agents and to determine their epidemiology and aetiological role in unknown fever in patients from these areas.

During the spring of 1981, two strains of an identical virus were isolated in Mayenne, France, from Ixodes ricinus L. and Ixodes ventalloi Gil Collado, parasiting a wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.). Virological and serological results indicated that these strains belong to the Colorado tick fever serogroup and are indistinguishable from Eyach virus, a tick-borne virus previously described from West Germany. Study of dsRNA PAGE profiles confirmed these conclusions. The morphology and morphogenesis of French isolates were studied in infected suckling mouse brains showing some peculiar features previously described for Colorado tick fever virus. The importance of the isolation of Eyach virus in France is discussed.

No abstract

toire naturelle de Paris); des paratypes sont au Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA. Il en est de même pour les autres espèces qui sont réparties entre ces départements.

Phénologie et variations du dermecos chez quelques espèces de Spinturnicidae (Acarina, Mesostigmata) par J. DEUNFF * et J.-C. BEAUCOURNU *

SummarySeven strains of a new Flavivirus, for which the name of Meaban virus is proposed, were isolated from the seabird tick Ornithodoros (A.) maritimus collected during 1981 and 1982 in nests of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) on islands of South Brittany, France. The new virus was compared serologieally with 65 other flaviviruses including Tyuleniy virus and was found to be most closely related to, but different from Saumarez Reef virus, an agent previously isolated in Australia and Tasmania. Some general properties of Meaban virus are described and its antigenic relationships with other tick-borne flaviviruses associated with seabirds are discussed.