SIPHONAPTERA COLLECTED FROM MOLES AND THEIR NESTS AT WILP, NETHERLANDS, ' ''Ml {-jg^^ u^\i\ BY JHR. W. C. VAN HEURN ÜEMRï JUL 2 6 1962 HARVAHO F. G. A. M. SMIT Bril is/} Museum (Natural History), The Zoological Museum, Tring, îw^/iy^^ VERSI TV During a period of eleven years, from 1950 to I960 inclusive, Jonkheer Drs. W. C. VAN Heurn collected well over a thousand specimens of the common European mole, Talpa europaea L., in the grounds of his estate "Kleine Noordijk" at Wilp, Gelderland, Netherlands. Apart from attempting to decrease the local population density of the mole (which is apparently most difficult to achieve), one of the main purposes of this mass collecting was a study of the variation in pelage {cj. W. C. van Heurn & A. M. Husson, 1959, Zool. Bijdr. Leiden, vol. 4, p. 1 — 16). Shortly after having started the trapping of moles, Jhr. van Heurn most kindly began to preserve for me the ectoparasites which he found on them. From May 1950 onwards all moles were collected from the traps with the least possible delay, wrapped up and subsequently searched for ectoparasites which were removed, without previous fumigation, by combing and brushing the host over a deep bowl. For each mole the sex and age, as well as the number of fleas removed, were recorded; all records were listed per month and the fleas collected in one month were put together in one tube. Since a comparison of the composition of the flea fauna of the bodies of moles with that of moles' nests from the same area was thought to be of interest, Jhr. van Heurn most kindly and energetically also dug up 45 nests from which he collected the fleas. I am deeply indebted to Jhr. van Heurn for collecting numerous fleas — not only from moles — in his characteristic meticulous manner over a long period of years. Description of trapping area The estate "Kleine Noordijk" is situated 2 KM south of Twello and about 3 KM west of Wilp [viz., at 52° 13' N. 6° 07' E], in the province of Gelder-land, Netherlands. The estate consists of woodland and meadows; the moles were caught in an area of approximately 10 hectares in which woodland dominates. The majority of moles, however, were trapped in an area of about 3 or 4 hectares in the wood adjoining the mansion. Numbers and species of fleas collected A total of 13,330 fleas was collected: 12,058 from 1,005 (436 cf, 569 ?) 29
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