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An Unusual Case of Teratology in Siphonaptera

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

George P. Holland
George P. Holland
Affiliation:
Entomology Research Institute, Research Branch, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, Canada
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Extract

Most systematists occasionally come upon abnormal specimens of species belonging to the groups they study. Such specimens, depending on the nature of the abnormality, may be of only psssing interest as curiosities, or may be considered of sufficient importance to report in the literature.

Several authors have recorded cases of teratology in the fleas, most of the cases concerning duplication of an organ (usually the spermatheca of the female). castration of the male by nematodes, or variability in the numbers of ctenidial spines. Smit (1949) reviewed the scant literature and later published several additional papers on monstrosities in Siphonaptera.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 91 , Issue 11 , November 1959 , pp. 703 - 709
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1959

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References

Holland, G. P. 1951. Notes on some bird fleas, with the description of a new species of Ceratophyllus, and a key to the bird fleas known from Canada (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae). Canadian Ent. 83: 281–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, G. P. 1955. Primary and secondary sexual characteristics of some Ceratophyllinae, with notes on the mechanism of copulation (Siphonaptera). Trans. Royal Ent. Soc. London 107: 233–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, G. P. 1957. Notes on the genus Hystrichopsylla Rothschild in the New World, with descriptions of one new species and two new subspecies (Siphonaptera: Hystrichopsyllidae). Canadian Ent. 89: 309–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, K. 1947. On some phylogenetic problems within the order Siphonaptera (= buctoria). Tijdschr. Ent. 88: 79–93.Google Scholar
Smit, F. G. A. M. 1949. Monstrosities in Siphonaptera. Tijdschr. Ent. 90: 35–42.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, R. E. 1946. The skeletal anatomy of fleas (Siphonaptera). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 104 (18): 1–89.Google Scholar