First record of bat flea Thaumapsylla breviceps Rothschild, 1907 (Siphonaptera: Ischnopsyllidae) on Bicol Region, Luzon Island, Philippines

Abstract

Thaumapsylla Rothschild is a small genus of Old World ischnopsyllid fleas parasitic only on the family Pteropodidae (fruit bats). Despite its widespread record in the Philippines, it has never been reported in the Bicol Region, southern Luzon. In this account, we report the first record of Thaumapsylla breviceps Rothschild in the Bicol Region. It was collected from Eonycteris spelaea (Dobson), a nectarivorous fruit bat native to Southeast Asia. Also, this paper represents the first record of the genus Thaumapsylla on Bicol Region, Luzon Island.