Life Cycle and Morphology of Steinina ctenocephali (Ross 1909) comb. nov (Eugregarinorida: Actinocephalidae), a Gregarine of Ctenocephalides felis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) in Taiwan

Mauricio E. Alarcon, Chin-Gi Huang, Yi-Shang Tsai, Wei-June Chen, Anil Kumar Dubey, and Wen-Jer Wu (2011) Life cycle and morphology of Steinina ctenocephali (Ross 1909) comb. nov. (Eugregarinorida: Actinocephalidae), a gregarine of Ctenocephalides felis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) in Taiwan. Zoological Studies 50(6): 763-772. Gregarines are endoparasitizing protozoa found across terrestrial invertebrate taxa including several insect species of medical and public health importance such as the cat flea, Ctenocephalides fells (Bouche). The finding of a gregarine infection in the cat flea may shed light on further pest control regimes of this pest insect species. To resolve taxonomic concerns (synonyms) and the life history of this cat flea-infecting gregarine, Gregarina ctenocephali, the morphology, life cycle, and phylogenetic status of this species in Taiwan were investigated and described. Virtually all lines of evidence showed that this gregarine is closely related to the genus Steinina and only distantly related to the genus Gregarina as described by Ross (1909) and thus should be transferred from G. ctenocephali to S. ctenocephali comb. nov. Results of this study provide baseline information for evaluation of future biological control practices. http://zoolstud.sinica.edu.tw/Journals/50.6/763.pdf