[FLEAS (SIPHONAPTERA) OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS IN THE CISCAUCASIA].

Flea fauna of Ciscaucasia is represented by 76 species, 13 of which are associated with birds and all the other with mammals. Rodent parasites are most numerous; fleas associated with predators, bats and insectivora are less abundant. Fleas parasitize on different species of birds of the orders Passeriformes, Anseriformes, Falconiformes, and Strigiformes. Among 41 flea genera known from the Caucasus, species of the genera Amalaraeus, Araeopsylla, Atyphloceras, Caenopsylla, Callopsvlla, Doratopsvlla, Paraneopsvlla, Peromyscopsylla, Phaenopsylla, Tarsopsylla, and Wagnerina are absent in the Ciscaucasia. Only two subendemic species were revealed in this area. Thirty three flea species are distributed over the entire territory; the distribution of other species is limited to landscapes of one or two natural areas.

[FLEAS (SIPHONAPTERA) OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS IN THE GREAT CAUCASUS].

There are 116 species of fleas in the territory of the Great Caucasus. 21 species are parasites of birds, others are the fleas of mammals. Among 41 genera of Caucasus' fauna only Caenopsylla, Phaenopsylla and Araeopsylla are absent in the Great Caucasus. There are 11 endemic species. Fleas of 66 species are distributed along all mountain system. Parasites of some birds and carnivorous mammals, insectivores and rodents live from lowlands till highlands. Some species are living at the forest altitudinal belt, others prefer the foothills and the mid-height areas; they are absent atthe highlands. Their hosts may live at all longitudinal belts; the distribution of other species is limited to lowlands in accordance with distribution of their main hosts.

[Fleas (Siphonaptera) of mammals from the mountain area between the Kuban and Great Laba Rivers].

The flea fauna of mammals in the area between the Kuban and Great Laba Rivers contributes 47 species. The majority of mammal fleas parasitize on several hosts. Peculiarities of the species composition and the structure of flea communities dwelling in different altitudinal belts is estimated. The flea Ctenophthalmus wagneri and some other flea species possessing ancient Mediterranean range show the highest dominance indices in foothills. Ctenophthalmus proximus and Leptopsylla taschenbergi, possessing ranges of the Caucasian type, prevail in the middle mountain belt. Megabothris turbidus and some other boreal species dominate among species collected in the high mountain belt.

[Seasonal changes in the physiological age of Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) imagoes on the Stavropol Elevation].

Ixodes ricinus imagoes were caught using a flannel flag in the April to October of 2011 to 2013. There were two seasons when these stages were numerous, namely: spring and autumn. The physiological age of 506 hungry I. ricinus imagoes was determined from their outward signs: the shape of their rear body, the surface of the cuticle, and visibility of the internals through the latter. The change in the age composition suggests that an autumn imago cohort consists of specimens that emerged from nymphs in summer.

[Mammal flea (Siphonaptera) fauna in the interfluve of the Malaya Laba and Belaya Laba rivers].

The mammals in the interfluve of the Malaya Laba and Belaya Laba rivers were found to have fleas of 35 species; the main hosts for 2 of them were birds. Few hosts harbored most of animal parasites. The species composition and structure of fleas on small mammals greatly varies with high-altitude zones.

[Ways of the fleas (Siphonaptera) fauna formation in the Caucasus].

Fleas fauna of the Caucasus is considered, possible ways of its formation are discussed. Caucasian fleas belong to 155 species and 40 genera; 23 species are endemics. Hypothesis on Western Palearctic and Eastern Palearctic sources of the Caucasian fleas' fauna formation are proposed.

[Value of fleas in the natural foci of plague in the caucasus].

The paper characterizes the seasonal phenomena of the life cycle of fleas in relation to the intensity of epizootias in the natural foci of plague in the Caucasus. A situation determined by the vital activity of several species of fleas, the parasites of a major vehicle, is, in terms of pathogen transmission, established in each of 9 natural plague foci. They are combined by the nesting-borrow type of parasitism, which provides the wide distribution of plague pathogen among rodents. In each focus, there are the most intensive epizootias in the period of high feeding and reproductive activity of transmitters.

[Rodent fleas (Siphonaptera, Insecta) in the Terek-Kuma interfluve].

The fauna of rodent fleas comprises 19 species in the Terek-Kuma interfluve. Most detected parasites settle together with their hosts within and outside this area. Only gerbils and their parasites are limited to the spread in a semi-desert zone. The attribution of the fleas to various hosts, such as little sousliks, gerbils, jerboas, mice, and common voles, is not absolute and the parasites are, in addition to the principal hosts, encountered on the rodents of other species. Exchange of the parasites between different host species makes possible the passaging of pathogens of infectious diseases among them.

[Chewing lice (Mallophaga) on birds in the Central Ciscaucasia].

Mallophaga parasitizing wild and domestic birds in the Central Ciscaucasia were studied; 8805 chewing lice specimens were collected and identified. At present, 102 species of Mallophaga are known from this territory, including 15 species recorded in the Central Ciscaucasia for the first time. Most of the chewing lice species in the region under study are parasites of Passeriformes. Species diversity of chewing lice connected with each of other 12 bird orders is several times lesser. The exchange of chewing lice between some species of hosts, particularly between domestic and wild birds, seems possible.

[Borrelia species new to Russia--possible causative agents of ixodid tick-borne borreliosis]. / Novye dlia Rossii vidy borrelii--vozmozhnye vozbuditeli iksodovykh kleshchevykh borreliozov.

18 Borrelia isolates, obtained in 1996-1997 from adult Ixodes ricinus collected from plants in the environs of Stavropol', were identified with the use of the polymerase chain reaction and the analysis of the polymorphism of the length of restriction fragments. Among them, in addition to B. garinii and B. afzelii, widely spread in Eurasia, 2 recently described species, B. valaisiana and B. lusitaniae, were found in Russia for the first time. Their possible spread and their importance in infectious pathology are described.

[Hyalomma marginatum Koch in Stavropol' region]. / K izucheniiu Hyalomma marginatum Koch v Stavropol'skom krae.

Ixodes ticks of the species Hyalomma marginatum are widely spread in the semidesert and steppe landscape zones of the Stavropol Territory. The circle of the main hosts for the larvae and nymphs of these ticks includes many species of wild and domestic birds, European brown hare, four-toed and eared hedgehogs. Rodents are of no great importance for ticks as a feeding source. Adult ticks parasitize on agricultural animals, domestic dogs and attack humans. The prospects of further studies of the way of life this tick in connection with its importance for infectious pathology are discussed.

[Study of the natural sensitivity of Ixodes to insecticides]. / Izuchenie estestvennoi chuvsvitel'nosti iksodovykh kleshchei k nekotorym insektitsidam.

The article deals with the results obtained in the study of the natural sensitivity of the nature populations of Ixodes ticks to 4 insecticides. As revealed in this study, the ticks are highly sensitive to commercial preparations in different phases of their development. The selective sensitivity of different species of ticks to these preparations is noted.

[Fleas of the Lake Evoron vole (Siphonaptera)]. / Blokhi évoronskoi polevki (Siphonaptera).

In Lower Priamurje in summer of 1977-1979 Microtus evoronensis was parasitized mainly by fleas of Ceratophyllus calcarifer. Other seven species of fleas recorded from this animal are very rare. They are connected, in general, with other small mammals and birds.