Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the species and distribution of ectoparasitic fleas and sucking lice on 440 small mammals in Lianghe County in Yunnan Province. Methods: Mouse traps were applied to capture small mammals. The fleas and sucking lice on the body surface of small mammals were all collected. Every individual of the fleas and sucking lice was dehydrated, and mounted on slides in the conventional way, and then identified under the microscope. The richness（S）, Shannon-Wiener diversity index（H′），evenness （J′）and dominance index （C′）were adopted to measure the community structure of fleas and sucking lice on small
mammals. The disperse coefficient （C）, clumping index （I）, cassie index （CA）and patch index （m*/m）were used to mesure the spatial patterns of the dominant fleas and sucking lice on their main corresponding hosts. Results: Total 440 small mammal hosts were captured and 263 fleas and 1 316 sucking lice from the hosts were collected. The 440 small mammals were identified as 20 species in 2 categories: Rodentia and Insectivora. The 263 fleas were identified as 10 species and 8 genera in 5 families. Ctenophthalmus
quadratus, Palaeopsylla remota, Xenopsylla cheopis and Aviostivalius klossi bispiniformis, were dominant flea species. The 1 316 sucking lice were identified as 6 species and 3 genera in 3 families. Hoplopleura pacifica, H. edentula and H. confuciana were dominant sucking lice species.The dominant species of fleas and sucking lice tend to be an aggregation pattern on the body surface of their main hosts. Conclusion: There were relatively less species and diversity of fleas and sucking lice on the body surface of the small mammals discussed in this paper. And it showed higher host specificity of most species of sucking lice compared to fleas. The dominant species of fleas and sucking lice tend to be an aggregation pattern on the body surface of their main hosts.

Key words: small mammal, flea, sucking louse, ectoparasite, Yunnan