Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry as a useful tool for the rapid identification of wild flea vectors preserved in alcohol

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Fleas of the genus Neotyphloceras associated with rodents from Bolivia: new host and distributional records, description of a new species and remarks on the morphology of Neotyphloceras rosenbergi

The flea genus Neotyphloceras Rothschild (Siphonaptera: Ctenophthalmidae) includes five species and two subspecies distributed from Venezuela to southern Chile and Argentina. Only Neotyphloceras crassispina hemisus Jordan has been registered in Bolivia. The present study examines species of Neotyphloceras collected in Bolivian localities in the Departments of La Paz, Cochabamba and Tarija, and describes the morphology of the modified abdominal segments in males and females of Neotyphloceras rosenbergi Rothschild on the basis of type material and specimens collected from Tarija. A new species, Neotyphloceras boliviensis n. sp., is described and new host associations are reported for N. rosenbergi, Neotyphloceras crassispina crassispina and N. crassispina hemisus. Neotyphloceras c. crassispina and N. rosenbergi are reported for the first time in Bolivia. The distribution of N. rosenbergi is extended 1600 km to the south. Given the potential medical and veterinary significance of fleas as disease vectors, and considering that in the Departments of La Paz and Tarija several human cases of plague have been reported, and species of flea have been identified as main vectors of these diseases, the new records of fleas in Bolivia reported herein may be useful for epidemiological studies on flea‐borne diseases.Fil: Sánchez, Juliana Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Lareschi, Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Salazar Bravo, Jorge. Texas Tech University; Estados UnidosFil: Gardner, Scott. University Of Nebraska. Harold W. Manter Laboratory Of Parasitology; Estados Unido