Fleas (Siphonaptera: Pygiopsyllomorpha) of Papua New Guinea and Papua Province (Indonesia). Part VI. Bibikovana, geohollandia, and Hoogstraalia (Pygiopsyllidae: Pygiopsyllinae), with Descriptions of Four New Species

Abstract

Part VI is the final installment of a six-part series of papers discussing the fleas of Papua Province, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea as a continued study of fleas in the Robert Traub flea collection deposited in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA. Taxa from the genera Bibikovana, Geohollandia, and Hoogstraalia are included with emphasis on those species endemic to Papua Province, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Four new species are described (Bibikovana engilisi, Bibikovana bosaviensis, Bibikovana mekiliensis, and Hoogstraalia nadchatrami). Bibikovana laciniosa bismarckensis is treated as a junior synonym of Bibikovana laciniosa laciniosa and Hoogstraalia novaeguineae is treated as a junior synonym of Hoogstraalia turdella. The females of Geohollandia solida and Hoogstraalia turdella are described and illustrated for the first time. The mammalian hosts of the three genera studied herein are summarized in Table 1. The avian host specificity of the genera Geohollandia and Hoogstraalia are substantiated with many new records of avian host associations included as Table 2. Geographic distributions of species of all three genera are summarized in Table 3. Keys for species of Bibikovana and Hoogstraalia and an updated key to the genera of Pygiopsyllomorpha are included. With the description of four new species and the proposed synonymies of two species, the total number of species in the superfamily Pygiopsylloidea in Papua Province, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea (including Bismarck Archipelago) and the Solomon Islands is 113. An additional eight species belonging to three other flea families (Ischnopsyllidae (3), Pulicidae (3), and Leptopsyllidae (2) bring the total number of flea taxa to 121 species (including subspecies).