Purpose

The main aim of our study was to examine morphological differentiation between and within sex of hen fleas—Ceratophyllus gallinae (Schrank, 1803) population collected from Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus Linnaeus, 1758), inhabiting nest boxes and to determine the morphological parameters differentiating this population.

Methods

A total of 296 fleas were collected (148 females and 148 males), determined to species and sex, then the following characters were measured in each of the examined fleas: body length, body width, length of head, width of head, length of comb, height of comb, length of tarsus, length of thorax and length of abdomen.

Results

The comparison of body size showed the presence of two groups among female and male life forms of the hen flea, which mostly differed in length of abdomen, whereas the length of head and tarsus III were less variable.

Conclusion

Till now, the only certain information is the presence of two adult life forms of C. gallinae. The genesis of their creation is still unknown and we are not able to identify the mechanism responsible for the morphological differentiation of fleas collected from the same host. In order to find answer to this question, future research in the field of molecular taxonomy is required.

中文翻译：

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形态学揭示了 Ceratophyllus gallinae (Schrank, 1803) Infested Cyanistes caeruleus Linnaeus, 1758 Nest Boxes 中意外的隐性多样性。

目的

我们研究的主要目的是检查母鸡跳蚤的性别之间和内部的形态差异 -从欧亚蓝山雀（Cyanistes caeruleus Linnaeus，1758）收集的Ceratophyllus gallinae （Schrank，1803）种群，栖息在巢箱中，并确定区分形态学参数这个人口。

方法

共采集跳蚤 296 只（雌性 148 只，雄性 148 只），确定种类和性别，然后测量每只跳蚤的以下特征：体长、体宽、头长、头宽、头长梳子、梳子的高度、跗骨的长度、胸部的长度和腹部的长度。

结果

体型的比较显示，母鸡跳蚤的雌性和雄性生命形式中存在两组，它们的腹部长度差异较大，而头部和跗骨的长度差异较小。

结论

到目前为止，唯一确定的信息是C. gallinae的两种成年生命形式的存在。它们创造的起源仍然未知，我们无法确定负责从同一宿主收集的跳蚤形态分化的机制。为了找到这个问题的答案，未来需要在分子分类学领域进行研究。