Publications

ultrastructure of the eggs of seven flea species (siphonaptera).	eggs of seven flea species representing five families, ctenocephalides felis (bouché) (pulicidae), orchopeas leucopus (baker) and aetheca wagneri (baker) (ceratophyllidae), conorhinopsylla stanfordi stewart and epitedia faceta (rothschild) (hystrichopsyllidae), sternopsylla distincta texana (c. fox) (ischnopsyllidae), and craneopsylla minerva (rothschild) (stephanocircidae), were examined with a scanning electron microscope and are described from the resulting micrographs. in the pulicidae and c ...	1994	7815392
dynamics of plague in a gunnison's prairie dog colony complex from new mexico.	a plague (yersinia pestis) epizootic spread through gunnison's prairie dogs (cynomys gunnisoni), and possibly other rodent species, in the moreno valley in north-central new mexico between winter 1984-1985 and autumn 1987. we observed the progress of the epizootic and subsequent population recovery at four prairie dog towns within the valley during this period. at two towns (midlake and val verde) the prairie dogs were marked prior to the epizootic. at two additional towns (vega and south entran ...	1997	9391954
the flea, megabothris abantis: an invertebrate host of hepatozoon sp. and a likely definitive host in hepatozoon infections of the montane vole, microtus montanus.	in searching for an invertebrate host for hepatozoon sp. infecting the montane vole (microtus montanus), we collected fleas, ticks, and mites from live-trapped voles and searched squash preparations for hepatozoon oocysts. from 1989 through 1996, we identified six species of fleas in grand teton national park: megabothris abantis, megabothris asio megacolpus, aetheca wagneri, peromyscopsylla selenis, peromyscopsylla. hesperomys, and hystrichopsylla dippiei dippiei. we found hepatozoon oocysts on ...	2006	16870862
no evidence of deer mouse involvement in plague (yersinia pestis) epizootics in prairie dogs.	plague, the disease caused by the bacterium yersinia pestis, can have devastating impacts on black-tailed prairie dog (cynomys ludovicianus) colonies. one suggested mechanism behind sporadic prairie dog die-offs involves an alternative mammal host, such as the deer mouse (peromyscus maniculatus), which often inhabits prairie dog colonies. we examined the flea populations of deer mice to investigate the potential of flea-borne transmission of plague between deer mice and prairie dogs in northern ...	2008	18447619
geographic variation in rodent-flea relationships in the presence of black-tailed prairie dog colonies.	we characterized the relationship between fleas and their rodent hosts in the presence of prairie dog colonies and compared them to adjacent assemblages away from colonies. we evaluated the rodent-flea relationship by quantifying prevalence, probability of infestation, flea load, and intensity of fleas on rodents. as prairie dog burrows provide refugia for fleas, we hypothesized that prevalence, flea load, and intensity would be higher for rodents that are associated with black-tailed prairie do ...	2008	18697322
demonstration of early-phase transmission of yersinia pestis by the mouse flea, aetheca wagneri (siphonaptera: ceratophylidae), and implications for the role of deer mice as enzootic reservoirs.	the role of deer mice and other species of peromyscus as enzootic reservoirs for plague remains controversial. in this study, we evaluated early-phase vector efficiency of aetheca wagneri baker, a common flea species infesting deer mice, to determine the likelihood that y. pestis could be spread mouse to mouse by this species. we showed that a. wagneri could transmit plague bacteria to laboratory mice as early as 3 d postinfection (p.i.), but transmission efficiency was quite low (1.03%; 95% ci: ...	2008	19058643
modeling susceptible infective recovered dynamics and plague persistence in california rodent-flea communities.	plague persists as an enzootic in several very different rodent-flea communities around the world. in california, a diversity of rodent-flea communities maintains the disease, and a single-host reservoir seems unlikely. logistic regression of plague presence on climate and topographic variables predicts plague in many localities where it is absent. thus, a dynamic community-based analysis was needed. deterministic susceptible infective recovered (sir) models were adapted for plague and analyzed ...	2010	20158333