Opisodasys pseudarctomys ( Baker )

Reeves, Will K., Durden, Lance A., Ritzi, Christopher M., Beckham, Katy R., Super, Paul E & Oconnor, Barry M., 2007, Ectoparasites and other ectosymbiotic arthropods of vertebrates in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA, Zootaxa 1392, pp. 31-68 : 39

Opisodasys pseudarctomys ( Baker)

Ex Glaucomys volans (southern flying squirrel): 1F, NC, Haywood Co., Purchase Knob, 20 Oct. 2002, K. Walters, L­3036.

Although this is a largely boreal flea species associated with sciurids (flying squirrels), there are a few records from southern U.S. states including Tennessee and Florida ( Benton 1980, Durden & Kollars 1997). This is the first record of this flea from NC and the Park. Soneshine et al (1978) did not examine O. pseudarctomys as a potential vector of the agent of epidemic typhus to flying squirrels, but this flea could be involved with transmission of Rickettsia .