Hystrichopsylla cryptotis, Acosta & Morrone, 2005

Acosta, Roxana & Morrone, Juan J., 2005, A new species of Hystrichopsylla Taschenberg (Siphonaptera: Hystrichopsyllidae) from the Mexican transition zone, Zootaxa 1027 (1), pp. 55-63 : 57-60

Hystrichopsylla cryptotis , new species Acosta and Morrone

( Figs. 1–7 )

Diagnosis. Easily recognized by a combination of the following characters: large size; seven genal combs; and slender sternum IX, with 13 pairs of thick spiniform setae of different sizes.

Description. Holotype male ( Figs. 1–4 ). Head ( Fig. 1 ) — Frontoclypeal margin rounded. Preantennal region with three rows of setae, seven dorsal, two median, and three ventral. Small bristles scattered on poorly defined rows over entire preantennal region. Eight bristles along anterior margin of antennal fossa. Eyes vestigial. Postantennal region with three rows of setae; two anterior rows more or less oblique with respect to posterior row. Anterior row with three setae, decreasing in size from front to back; middle row with six setae; and posterior row with eight long setae and six small intercalary bristles. Four small setae over triangular area. Posterior margin of antennal fossa bordered by 20 small bristles. Genal ctenidium in each side with seven teeth, the first four slender and the last three short and broad. Maxillary palpus with four segments, and apex rounded, reaching apex of fourth segment of the maxillary palpus. Labial palpus 5­segmented, reaching middle part of forecoxae. Dorsal margin of occiput straight. Maximum width and length of head 126 and 82 microns, respectively. Four locudiscs, two directed ventral to eye and two on top of genal ctenidium.

Thorax — Pronotum with two rows of setae, 11 in the anterior row, an nine long setae in the posterior row, with nine intercalary bristles, before this rows there are three setae; pronotal comb with a total of 34 slender pointed teeth; mesonotum with large number of setae, distributed in an anterior group generally scattered, an the second group of five well defined rows with 10­10­15­8­7 setae, respectively; posterior row with seven intercalary bristles; metanotum with four rows of setae, first three with 7­12­11 setae, respectively, and fourth with 10 setae and seven intercalary bristles. Mesepisternum and mesepimeron with five defined rows of setae. Numbers of setae from anterior to posterior row 8­7­7­7­4, respectively.

Legs — Procoxa with abundant bristles, meso­ and metacoxa virtually lacking them, only in the inner part of them have some bristles; hind femur with 10 small bristles near apex which are clearly short than setae of the lateral surface on corresponding tibiae. Longest setae on the apex of hind tibiae reach beyond half length of first tarsal segment. Apical setae of the first and second tarsal segment slightly longer than second and third tarsal segments, respectively. Fourth and fifth tarsal segments of hind leg, about the same length. Lengths of tibiae and tarsal segments I to V, respectively, are as follows: pronotum 84, 40, 24, 16, 14, 29; mesonotum, 114, 82, 35, 18, 12, 32; and metanotum, 168, 138, 99, 51, 25, 34 microns. Setae of fifth tarsal segments short and thick, with five pairs of lateral bristles, and two spiniform bristles in middle of fifth pair of lateral bristles.

Abdomen — Non­modified terga with three rows of setae each, posterior row with longer setae and some intercalaries. Terga II, III and IV with 6­6­3 apical spinelets, respectively. Three antepigidial bristles, the middle is the longest and the dorsal are the shortest. Sterna III to VII with 11­11­14­12­20 setae, respectively.

Modified abdominal segments and genitalia — Fixed process of clasper ( Fig. 2 ) blunt to rounded. Apex blunt, ventrocaudal angle rounded, margins forming a right angle. One long bristle at acetabulum level. Condylar portion of movable process of clasper broad, anterior margin strongly convex, dorsal apex rounded, curved backwards, caudal margin convex. Free portion of movable process long and slender, reaching slightly beyond dorsal apex of fixed process. Maximum width 26, length 127 microns. Anterior margin evenly convex almost from base to apex, caudal margin straight. Quetotaxy of moveable process characterized by the presence in caudal margin of a row of four long submarginal bristles and six shorter intercalary bristles longer than the process width. Close to apex, in ventral margin of movable process, ten small marginal bristles and one bristle near ventrocaudal margin. Anterior margin with a two rows of four small bristles near center. Additionally, 20 bristles scattered all over the surface of moveable process. Distal arm of sternum IX ( Fig. 3 ) long and slender, four times as long as wide at level of proximal spiniform; ventral and dorsal margin subparallel, apex squarish. Near proximal fourth distal arm widens and thickest proximally. Distal portion of dorsal margin curves upwards, and ventral margin runs more or less straight, curving upwards from proximal spiniform to apex. Distal arm of ventral margin with 13 pair of thick spiniform setae, which numbered from apex to base are as follows: two long and 11 short from the number three to seven increasing in length and the eight, ten to 13 shorter. Measurements of spiniforms are: 18, 14, 9, 13, 14, 18, 8, 9, 20, 10, 8 microns. Small bristles near point of insertion of spiniforms 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8, also two groups of ten bristles in dorsal margin. Distal arm of sternum VIII ( Fig. 4 ) clavate, with apex 1.5 times wider than arm at its base, somewhat strongly pointed rather than rounded. Rows of slender bristles over entire ventral margin but with more near apex, and vested in many short setae on dorsal ham of arm. Apex of phallosoma rounded.

Paratype female ( Figs. 5­7 ) — Similar to male, except for the following: dorsal margin of occiput convex; pronotal comb with 40 teeth; sternum VII ( Fig. 5 ) somewhat straight, very slightly convex and irregular; with nine posterior irregular long bristles and 15 smaller ones preceding this row. Four antepygidial bristles, the two median longer than the lateral ones. Anal stylet ( Fig. 6 ) with single long apical bristle about 2.5 times longer than stylet itself. Dorsal margin of anal stylet straight, with short bristle, and ventral margin concave, giving a curved appearance to the structure. Two equal sized spermathecae ( Fig. 7 ), bulga aproximately 2x longer than broad, hila as long as bulga and reflexed on it, with apex rounded; bursa copulatrix lightly sclerotized, similar to other species of Hystrichopsylla .

Types — Holotype, male, MEXICO. Querétaro: Pinal de Amoles 1 km S, 2650 m, ex

Cryptotis mexicana, 7­VIII­1982, JCM coll. (02903) ( MZFC). Paratype, female, Oaxaca :

San Miguel Suchixtepec, ex Cryptotis, 4­IV­1968, Martín coll. (00549) (MZFC). Etymology — The name cryptotis refers to the genus of the host species.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Holotype male. 1, Head; 2, clasper; 3, sternum IX; 4, sternum VIII.

FIGURES 5–7. Paratype female. 5, Sternum VIII; 6, anal stylet; 7, spermathecae.