Phalacropsylla morlani Eads & Campos, 1982

Acosta, Roxana & Hastriter, Michael W., 2017, A review of the flea genus Phalacropsylla Rothschild, 1915 (Siphonaptera, Ctenophthalmidae, Neopsyllinae, Phalacropsyllini) with new host and distributional records, ZooKeys 675, pp. 27-43 : 28

Phalacropsylla morlani Eads & Campos, 1982

Phalacropsylla morlani Eads & Campos, 1982: 241-243; Lewis & Lewis, 1985: 149; Adams & Lewis, 1995: 68; Fagerlund et al., 2001: 95; Ford et al., 2004: 16.

Diagnosis.

The apico-ventral margin of the basimere is entire, without a sinus, a feature shared only by P. allos and P. oregonensis (Figs 2, 4). Readily distinguished from both by the shape of the distal arm of S-IX which is wider basally than at apex. The apex of the distal arm of S-IX (DA9) also lacks modified long spiniform setae, as in P. allos , whereas P. oregonensis possesses modified setae (Fig. 4). The female of P. morlani has not been described.

Type material examined.

New Mexico: Santa Fe [Santa Fe County, elev. 3048 m], Ochotona princeps (Richardson), 10 X 1958 [10 XI 1958 was recorded by Eads and Campos (1982:241)], H.B. Morlan, holotype (USNM).

Remarks.

The description of P. morlani was based on one male from Santa Fe County, although Eads and Campos (1982) indicated that a second male had been lost. The discrepancy in the month the holotype was collected (October or November) was not resolvable. Eads and Campos (1982) stated correctly in their diagnosis that P. morlani has a pronotal comb of 18 teeth but erroneously recorded 20 in their key (couplet 6.). Although P. allos is documented from adjacent Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, P. allos has not been found in Santa Fe County. Dedicated collection efforts are needed to determine if P. allos and P. morlani are sympatric at high elevations in Santa Fe County and to collect and describe the female and additional males of P. morlani . Since P. morlani was collected from a pika ( O. princeps ), additional collecting might best be directed at collecting both O. princeps and N. cinerea in Santa Fe County.