Seasonality of 4 prevalent flea species (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae, Leptopsyllidae) on North American deer-mice Peromyscus maniculatus (Mammalia: Rodentia) due to possible thermal-niche partitioning

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Robert L. Bossard, Bossard Consulting, Salt Lake City, UT

Background/Question/Methods
Temperature was described as an axis of the niche in 1979, and in the decades since, thermal niches have been discovered in many diverse taxa of bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals including endothermic vertebrates. Do fleas show evidence of thermal niches? My objective was to analyze seasonal prevalence of adult fleas on deer-mice in relation to ambient temperature, and to determine if the occurrences of flea species were interrelated. Prevalence of the common flea species on Peromyscus maniculatus was tabulated from trapping in the Great Basin Desert by H.J. Egoscue, with optimal prevalence estimated by fitting LRJ non-linear curves versus estimated monthly temperatures near the trap locations.
Results/Conclusions
The prevalent flea species on P. maniculatus - Aetheca wagneri, Opisodasys keeni keeni, Orchopeas leucopus, and Peromyscopsylla hesperomys adelpha - display characteristic temperature optima and ranges minimizing overlap on the temperature axis. The common flea species on North American deer-mice in the Great Basin Desert show distinct thermal niches, and because seasonal separation of flea species shows up in many hosts, including flying squirrels, gerbils, and ground squirrels, thermal-niche partitioning may be a widespread device that sustains a diverse flea community on a host under varying temperatures.