NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI. 1014. 219 
ON THE POSITION OF NOTIOFSYLLA Noir. Nov., A 
GENUS OF SIPHONAFTEBA. 
By K. JORDAN, Ph.D., and tfie Hon. N. CHARLES ROTHSCHILD, M.A. 
(3 text-figuves.) 
MR. ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY, of the Central Museum, Brooklyn, 
has sent us for identification a pair of a flea which he obtained during 
" the South Georgia Expedition of the Brooklyn Institute Museum and the 
American Museum of Natural History." The species proves to be that known 
as Goniopsyllus liergueloisis. 
The name Goniop.vjlliis Baker (1906), however, cannot be employed, being 
preoccupied by Qoniops;/lliis Brady (1883), a genus of Crusfcwea. We therefore 
replace it by Notiopsj/Ua nom. uov., with henjiicletiais Tascherib. (1880) as type. 
Dealing with this Siphonapteron in Parasitologij i. p. 92 (1908), we stated 
that the genus was most nearly related to IL/strichopsijlla and Macropsylla, and 
expressed the opinion that the female possibly had two receptacula seminis, as 
in the genera mentioned. The good state of jjreservation of the two specimens 
kindly presented by Mr. Murphy enables us to correct these statements, and to 
give a description and some figures supplementing those already existing. 
Notiopsylla is a very near ally of the genus Pi/ffiops>/lla Roths. (1906), 
which is only known from the Eastern Hemisphere, being most abundantly 
represented iu Australia, but also occurring in India and Africa. We have as 
yet no Pt/giopsi/lla from South America. But the discovery of Goniopujllus 
kerguelensis on South Georgia renders it probable that this species, or other 
equally close allies of PygiopsijUa, occur on sea-birds in Southern Patagonia and 
the neighbouring islands. 
X. kerqueleiisis resembles iu facies the larger species of Pijgiopsijlla, being 
very hairy, and has all the main characteristics of Pyy;o/>sy^^a, but entirely lacks 
the pronotal comb. This deficiency is very interesting, as most species of 
Pijgiopsgll.it, like all the species of the allied genus Gcratophgllus, have a well- 
developed comb on the pronotum, but in Pijgiopsglla echidnae this comli is 
reduced to a few spines. Its total absence in Notiopsglla, therefore, is a final 
stage in the phyletic development of that organ. We have a parallel case in 
the subfamily Pulicinae. The pronotal comb is normal in size in Ctenocephalus, 
but reduced to a few teeth in the nearly allied genus An/taeopsgUa, while in Pidex 
irritans no trace of the comb is left. 
The absence of a frontal tubercle, the position and reduction of the eye, the 
antennal groove closed in the female and almost closed in the male, the elongate 
abdominal stigmata, the two autepygidial bristles on each side, the very strongly 
projecting pygidium, the presence of a j)atch of dispersed thin hairs on the inner 
surface of the hindcoxa, the five pairs of plantar bristles on the fifth tarsal 
segment, etc., are all characteristics which Notiopsglla shares with Pygiojisglla, 
the former being a PggiopsgUa without pronotal comb. It was the shape of the 
ninth abdominal sternite of the male which misled us to think that there was 
a close affinity between Notiopsglla and llgstrichopsglla. But a somewhat similar 
220 
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI. 1914. 
armatnre also occurs among the species of Pi/giopsijUa discovered since the paper 
i|iioted above was written. 
The female has only one receptaculnm seminis, which is characterised by 
the duct not entering the head of the receptaculum at the extremity or near it, 
but near the tail. 
Notiopsylla kerguelensis Taschenb. (1880) (text-figs. 1-3). 
Head. — We figure the head of the female (text-fig. 1). That of the male 
differs in the upper surface being much less slanting. The frons is not really 
angnlate, as the untenable generic name Goniop.v/llus implies. The antennal groove 
extends farther upwards in the male than in the female, the antenna being 
longer in the male, especially the club. The bristles of the head and antenna 
Fig. 1. — Xntioj>si///a hcrgvelensh ?. 
are practically the same in both sexes. The rostrum nearly reaches to the 
trochanter, the last segment being the longest. The maxilla is sharply pointed 
in a lateral view, and almost extends to the middle of the forecoxa. The first 
three segments of the maxillary palpus are almost of equal length, the measure- 
ments of segments I to IV being 24, 23, 18, 25. 
Thorax. — The pronotum is as long as the metanotam, the mesonotum being 
a trifle longer. There are two rows of bristles on the pronotnm, both distinctly 
oblique, the ventral bristles of the posterior row being antemedian and the 
dorsal ones postmcdiau. In front of these rows there are some additional dorsal 
bristles, which are slightly more numerous in the male than in the female. The 
meso- and metanota have each one row of long bristles and four to five rows of 
small ones. The mesopleura bear eight to ten slender bristles. The metepisternum 
has no bristles, whereas there are on the metasternum two in the female and 
four in the male, which are placed in a vertical row on the ventral two-thirds 
of this sclerite. The metepimerum bears twenty odd bristles arranged in four 
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI. 1314. 
221 
irregnlar rows, three bristles of the posterior row beiug almost of the same size 
as the bristles of the posterior row of the abdominal tergites. 
Abdomen. — The tergites are exceedingly hairy, there being approximately 
eight rows of short bristles in front of the posterior row of long ones. On the 
central segments at least three long bristles of the last row are placed below 
the stigma, besides a variable number of small ones. Segment II bears on 
each side one to three apical spines, segments III to VI one spine. The two 
antepygidial bristles of each side are very stout and rather short and obtuse. 
The basal sternite has only a ventral pair of bristles, besides numerous exceed- 
ingly minute hairs. The sternites of segments III to VII bear a postmedian 
row of long bristles, and in front of this row three or four rows of short ones, 
there being additional small bristles ventrally in front of these rows. 
Legs. — The hindtibia bears about twenty thin short bristles on the inner surface 
Fig. 2. — Xotiojfgi/Ua hergitcleiisis. 
between the anterior margin and the central vertical rod. The mid- and hind- 
femora have one subapical ventral bristle on the inner side, and two or three on the 
outer side, the row of the outer side being continued forward by four or five small 
bristles in the female, these additional bristles being slightly more numerous in 
the male. The bristles along the dorsal edge of the femora are placed far apart, 
but there are, as a compensation, two irregnlar and incomplete subdorsal rows on 
the outer surface of the femora. The dorsal bristles of the tibiae are very stout, the 
outer bristles of these pairs being very blunt, particularly those of the first and 
second pairs of the male. The outer surface of the tibiae, with the exception of the 
basal third, is almost evenly studded with bristles, the hindtibia bearing more than 
thirty bristles on the outer side. The tibiae and tarsi are short as compared with 
their width. The first foretarsal segment bears four curved bristles on the posterior 
side which are about as long as the second segment. The first and second segments 
of the hindtarsns have numerous bristles on the outer surface. The longest apical 
~'~~' XOTITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI. 1914. 
bristle of the first bindtarsal segment almost reaches to the apex of the second 
segment, and the longest bristle of the latter does not qnite extend to the apex of 
the fourth segment. The fifth segment is rather narrower than the preceding ones 
and has nearly straight sides. It bears five lateral jilantar bristles and three apical 
ventral ones. Proportional lengths of the segments in the midtarsns : S 30, 23, 
17,12,26; ? 31,24,15,11,23; in the hindtarsus : c? 61, 46, 26, 18, 30 ; ? 65,48, 
25, 17,29. 
Modifed Segments. — i. The eighth sternite is verj- large, enveloping the 
genitalia (VIII. st.). It is covered with very nnmerons bristles (text-fig. 2), of 
which the apical ones are long and thick. In onr figure the bristles are left out in 
the places where the clasper and ninth sternite shine through, as the armature of 
these organs would have been much obscured in our figure, if the bristles of the 
eighth tergite had been drawn on the top of those organs. The clasper is large and 
Fig. 3. — l^'otinpgylla herfjn^lcyisif. 
proximally produced into a rather slender, curved manubrium (M). The apex of 
the clasper is rounded-triangular (P) and bears a number of minute hairs and two 
long curved bristles, the latter being placed at the dorsal edge. The movable 
exopodite F is more strongly rounded veiitrally than dorsally, tapering to an obtuse 
j)oint. It bears seven long slender bristles along the ventral margin. The ninth 
sternite (IX. st.) reminds one of that of Hystrichopsylla talpae by the armature of 
the ventral arm. The outer surface of the widened jiortion of this ventral arm has 
numerous hairs, and along the ventral margin there is a row of short, stout, spiui- 
form bristles, two similar bristles being placed on the lateral surface. The vertical 
arm of the ninth sternite is very wide near its apex. ? . The seventh abdominal 
sternite (VII. st., text-fig. 3) is deeply sinuate (the proximal bristles of this segment 
are not represented in our figure). The ventral portion of the eighth tergite 
(VIII. st.) is rounded-triangular, as shown in the figure. It bears about twenty 
large bristles near the ventral margin and apex, and has, further proximally, 
numerous shorter and thinner bristles. There appear to be only two stout and short 
NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXI, 1914. 223 
lateral bristles on the inner surface of this segment. The anal sternite (X. st.) is 
angnlate ventrally in a lateral aspect, and bears at and near this angle a bunch of 
bristles. The stylet is three times as long as it is wide. The head of the receptacnlum 
seminis is about as long as the tail, but more than twice as wide. 
South Georgia, on Prion banhsi and Larus dominicus. 
Mr. Murphy frequently saw this species of flea in the feathers of freshly 
killed Prion, and also observed them jumping about in the nest burrows of 
these birds. 
ON A NEW FORM OF RHEA. 
By the Hon. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., and CHARLES CHUBB, M.B.O.TT. 
Rhea americana intermedia subsp. n. 
^if/«^^.— General colour of the upper surface pale ash grey ; short humeral 
feathers pale ash grey, the longer ones, on the outer side, grey with white bases, 
while those on the inner side, nearest the body, have a bluish tinge and black 
bases ; the feathers round the bend of the wing are composed of grey, brown, and 
white ; wing-coverts grey with white bases ; outer primary quills dark brown with 
white bases, and edged with white at the tips, the median quills ash grey, the 
innermost quills also grey, becoming dark brown towards the base ; interscapulary 
region grey ; the small narrow feathers on the back are dark brown with pale 
margins, the dark colour becoming gradually paler on the lower back and merging 
into the creamy white on the sides of the rump; crown of head sooty grey, with 
black shaft-streaks and black hair-like tips ; snperciliaries, sides of face, and neck all 
round creamy white with black shalt-lines which also have the hair-like tips, the 
black much more intensified on the nape where it forms a patch ; chin and upper 
throat uniform dull white ; the feathers on the lower neck are larger, the dark 
pattern gradually increasing in extent, and become uniform black on the basal 
portion of the neck and sides of the upper breast ; middle of upper breast also black 
with some pearl-grey feathers intermixed ; sides of the body, thighs, and remainder 
of the upper surface buffy white. Exposed portion of culmen 87 mm., length of 
neck 380, tarsus 307, middle-toe and claw 129. 
H'xb. — Barra San Juan, Colonia Uruguay. Type in collection of Dae d'Orleaus. 
COMPARATIVE KEY. 
a. Interscapulary region dark brown ; neck dull white ; tarsus 305 mm. ; middle- 
toe and claw 117 mm. . . . R. americana americana, North Brazil. 
b. Interscapulary region ash grey ; neck buffy white ; tarsus 307 mm. ; middle-toe 
and claw 120 mm. . . Li. americana intermedia, South Brazil, Uruguay. 
c. Interscapulary region black; neck for the most part black; tarsus 337 mm. ; 
middle-toe and claw 150 mm. . . R. americana rothschildi, Argentina. 
15