title: [The flea infestation of small alpine mammals and its dependence on the time of the year and altitude].
abstract: The infestation of small alpine mammals with fleas during the year and at different altitudes was investigated. The data are based on an investigation carried out between 1966 and 1969 in Tirol (Austria) in different altitudinal zones of the alps, 1136 fleas having been collected from 625 insectivores and rodents. By comparing the collections from the lower and higher regions and from different seasons of the year details of the pattern of distribution can be given for some species of fleas (e.g. for Doratopsylla dasycnema, Palaeopsylla soricis, Ctenophthalmus orphilus, Amphipsylla sibirica sepifera, Peromyscopsylla bidentata, P. fallax). The hosts in the subalpine and alpine zone proved to be less infested by fleas than the mammals of the lower regions, during the warm season the hosts harboured more parasites than during winter. Extensiveness and intensity of infestation were constantly higher in Soricidae than in Muridae.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Zoologie und Alpine Forschungsstelle Obergurgl der Universität Innsbruck, Österreich.|Muséum d'Histoire naturelle, Route de Malagnou, CH-1211, Genève 6, Schweiz.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mahnert