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CHECKLIST OF ESSEX FLEAS
Pulex irritans (requires Leptopsylla segnis
contemporary confirmation) Dasypsyllus gallinulae
Archaeopsylla erinacei Orchopeas howardi
Ctenocephalides canis Nosopsyllus fasciatus
C. felis Megabothris turbidus
Spilopsyllus cuniculi M. walkeri
Histrichopsylla talpae Monopsyllus sciurorum
Rhadinopsylla petacantha Ceratophyllus
Doratopsylla dasycnema gallinae
Palaeopsylla soricis C. fringillae
Ctenophthalmus nobilis C. styx
C. bisoctodentatus C. garei
Ischnopsyllus intermedius C. columbae
I. hexactenus Paraceras melis
I. simplex Amalareus penicilliger
I. octactenus mustelae
Ceratophyllus
hirundinis
PHIL WITHERS
BEE FLIES
The Bee flies are a fascinating family of flies
with parasitic larvae.
The term Bee flies has been earned on two counts,
the first being that some of the adults have a
superficial resemblance to some bees in that
they possess a dense covering of body hair. The
second is that many species have larval stages
which live in association with solitary bees as
parasites or carnivores.
Worldwide the family contains about 3,000 species.
Britain has only nine species and two others about
which some doubt remains. As far as I know only
Bombylius major has been recorded from Essex