720 The Southwestern Naturalist vol. 48, no. 4 FOXES, FLEAS, AND PLAGUE IN NEW MEXICO ROBERT L. HARRISON,* MICHAEL J. PATRICK,** AND C. GREGORY SCHMITT Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 (RLH) Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, Altoona College, Altoona, PA 16601 (MJP) New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, P.O. Box 25112, Santa Fe, NM 87504 (CGS) * Correspondent: [email protected] ** Deceased ABSTRACT We identi®ed species of ¯eas found in New Mexico on kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis), swift foxes (V. velox), red foxes (V. vulpes), and gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Pulex irritans and P. simulans were the ¯eas found most commonly. All species found, except 2, are known to carry plague, and we found ¯eas on foxes throughout New Mexico capable of carrying plague, which occurs in every county of New Mexico. Thus, every fox in New Mexico should be considered a potential carrier of plague. RESUMEN Identi®camos especies de pulgas encontradas en Nuevo MeÂxico en la zorra del de- sierto (Vulpes macrotis), la zorra de pradera (V. velox), la zorra roja (V. vulpes) y la zorra gris (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Pulex irritans y P. simulans fueron las pulgas maÂs frecuentemente halladas. Se sabe que todas las especies encontradas, excepto dos, transportan la plaga, y encontramos pulgas en zorros de todas partes de Nuevo MeÂxico capaces de trasportar la plaga, la cual puede ocurrir en cualquier condado de Nuevo MeÂxico. Entonces, cada zorro de Nuevo MeÂxico se debe considerar un portador potencial de la plaga. Foxes and other furbearers can have a vari- we describe all red foxes that we collected as V. ety of diseases and parasites (Addison et al., vulpes (Kamler and Ballard, 2002). 1987). Some furbearer diseases, such as We obtained fox specimens from roadkills, plague, murine typhus, tularemia, and salmo- United States Department of Agriculture Wild- nellosis, also affect humans and are associated life Services trappers, and private landowners. with ¯eas (Siphonaptera; Cheng, 1973). To in- Foxes were placed in plastic bags as soon as vestigate the risk of plague exposure to biolo- possible after death and were frozen until they gists, trappers, and others handling furbearers could be examined in the laboratory. Each fox in New Mexico, we collected and identi®ed was examined thoroughly for ¯eas using a ®ne- ¯eas from fox carcasses obtained by the New toothed comb. Flea species were identi®ed us- Mexico Department of Game and Fish from ing original descriptions and a key to the Si- 1996 through 1998. phonaptera of Utah by Stark (1958). We de- Four species of foxes occur in New Mexico posited voucher specimens in the Division of (Findley et al., 1975). The kit fox (Vulpes macrotis Arthropods, Museum of Southwestern Biology, Merriam) occurs west of the Pecos River in de- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. sert grassland and desert shrub habitats. The We examined 53 kit foxes, 30 swift foxes, 8 swift fox (Vulpes velox Say) occurs east of the Pe- red foxes, and 14 gray foxes. We obtained ¯eas cos River in shortgrass prairie habitats. The red from 36 kit foxes, 15 swift foxes, 4 red foxes, fox (Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus) occurs statewide, es- and 9 gray foxes. We collected a total of 422 pecially in montane and cropland habitats. The ¯eas from 64 foxes (Table 1). Some fox car- gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus Schreber) oc- casses did not have ¯eas. Fleas leave carcasses curs statewide, primarily in woodland and rocky after the death of hosts. Our lists of ¯ea species habitats. We note that the taxonomy of V. velox, might be incomplete for this reason. A few fox- V. macrotis, and V. vulpes is controversial. We fol- es might not have had ¯eas prior to death. The low Mercure et al. (1993) and describe V. velox intensity of ¯ea infestation (number of ¯eas per and V. macrotis as separate species. We did not individual fox) was low. The median (and distinguish native and nonnative red foxes, and range) numbers of ¯eas of all species per fox December 2003 Notes 721 TABLE 1ÐPercentage of hosts carrying ¯eas, median and range of numbers of ¯eas per host, and county in New Mexico where ¯eas were collected from kit foxes (n 5 36), swift foxes (n 5 15), red foxes (n 5 4), and gray foxes (n 5 9). Flea species % Median (range) Countya Kit fox: Cediopsylla inaequalis (Baker) 2.8 1.0 13 Euhoplopsyllus glacialis af®nis (Baker) 2.8 1.0 2 Foxella ignota apachina (C. Fox) 2.8 2.0 10 Orchopeas agilis (Rothschild) 2.8 1.0 2 Orchopeas caedens ( Jordan) 8.3 1.0 (1±1) 2, 5, 10 Oropsylla (Diamanus) montana (Baker) 2.8 1.0 10 Pleochaetis exilis ( Jordan) 5.6 1.0 (1±1) 4, 15 Pulex irritans (Linnaeus)b 58.3 2.0 (1±8) 2, 4, 9, 10, 16 Pulex simulans (Baker)b 27.8 1.0 (1±2) 2, 13 Pulex sp.c 75.0 2.0 (1±12) 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16 Stenistomera alpina (Baker) 2.8 6.0 10 Swift fox: Euhoplopsyllus glacialis af®nis (Baker) 13.3 1.5 (1±2) 7 Orchopeas agilis (Rothschild) 6.7 1.0 7 Orchopeas caedens ( Jordan) 6.7 3.0 7 Pulex irritans (Linnaeus)b 73.3 3.0 (1±11) 7, 12, 17 Pulex simulans (Baker)b 20.0 3.0 (1±4) 7 Pulex sp.c 86.7 7.0 (1±23) 6, 7, 12, 17 Red fox: Cediopsylla inaequalis inaequalis (Baker) 25.0 2.0 10 Euhoplopsyllus glacialis af®nis (Baker) 25.0 1.0 12 Pulex simulans (Baker)b 25.0 4.0 12 Pulex sp.c 50.0 3.0 (2±3) 12 Gray fox: Cediopsylla inaequalis (Baker) 22.2 2.0 (1±3) 13 Euhoplopsyllus glacialis af®nis (Baker) 22.2 2.0 (2±2) 11, 13 Pulex irritans (Linnaeus)b 11.1 1.0 1 Pulex simulans (Baker)b 33.3 1.0 (1±2) 7, 14 Pulex sp.c 77.8 3.0 (2±9) 3, 7, 11, 13, 14 a Counties: 1, Catron; 2, Chaves; 3, Colfax; 4, DeBaca; 5, Eddy; 6, Harding; 7, Lea; 8, Lincoln; 9, Luna; 10, McKinley; 11, Otero; 12, Roosevelt; 13, San Juan; 14, Santa Fe; 15, Socorro; 16, Torrance; 17, Union. b Numbers given are only for males of the species. c Numbers given are only for females of the species complex. were: kit fox 2 (1 to 21); swift fox 7 (1 to 37); agilis was formerly considered a subspecies of O. red fox 2 (1 to 7); and gray fox 4 (1 to 10). Two sexdentatus (Baker) (Hubbard, 1947), which has species, Pulex irritans (Linnaeus) and P. simulans been found to be naturally infected with plague (Baker), were the most common ¯eas collected. (K. Gage, Centers for Disease Control, Fort Col- There were no new records of occurrence of lins, Colorado, pers. comm.). We found ¯eas ca- ¯eas for New Mexico. Species richness of ¯eas pable of carrying plague on foxes from counties found upon the 4 fox species corresponded by throughout New Mexico, including 17 of 33 rank exactly with the number of ¯ea-infested counties in the state (Table 1). Plague might fox carcasses of each fox species (Table 1). occur in every county of New Mexico (P. Reyn- All of the ¯ea species that we found on foxes olds, New Mexico Department of Health, Santa are known to carry plague (Fagerlund et al., Fe, New Mexico, pers. comm.). 2001), with the exceptions of Orchopeas caedens People handling foxes in New Mexico ( Jordan) and O. agilis (Rothschild). Orchopeas should consider every fox as a potential carrier 722 The Southwestern Naturalist vol. 48, no. 4 of plague. When handling foxes likely to have CHENG, T. C. 1973. General parasitology. Academic live ¯eas, we recommend dusting the foxes im- Press, New York. mediately with ¯ea powder containing pyre- FAGERLUND, R. A., P. L. FORD, AND P. J. POLECHLA,JR. thrins. Handlers should wear long sleeves, long 2001. New records for ¯eas (Siphonaptera) from New Mexico with notes on plague-carrying spe- pants, and double or heavy gloves, and handle cies. Southwestern Naturalist 46:94±96. foxes on a brightly-colored plastic sheet so that FINDLEY, J. A., A. H. HARRIS,D.E.WILSON, AND C. ¯eas are more easily seen. JONES. 1975. Mammals of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. We thank R. A. Fagerlund (Environmental Servic- HUBBARD, C. A. 1947. Fleas of western North Amer- es, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque) for as- ica. Iowa State College Press, Ames. sistance with species identi®cation and taxonomy, R. KAMLER,J.F.,AND W. B. BALLARD. 2002. A review of E. Lewis (Department of Entomology, Iowa State native and nonnative red foxes in North America. University, Ames) for information on fox ¯eas, and Wildlife Society Bulletin 30:370±379. D. Campagna and D. Sinah for technical assistance MERCURE, A., K. RALLS,K.P.KOEPFLI, AND R. K. in the laboratory. This project was funded in part by WAYNE. 1993. Genetic subdivisions among small the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and canids: mitochondrial DNA differentiation of Pennsylvania State University. swift, kit, and arctic foxes. Evolution 47:1313± 1328. LITERATURE CITED STARK, H. E. 1958. The Siphonaptera of Utah. Unit- ADDISON, E. M., I. K. BARKER, AND D. B. HUNTER. ed States Department of Health, Education, and 1987. Diseases and parasites of furbearers. In: No- Welfare, Communicable Disease Center, Atlanta, vak, M., J. A. Baker, M. E. Obbard, and B. 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