Dispersal tests were carried out in suburban areas of Kyoto from Feb.3 to Mar.16, 1959. The materials were collected by trapping at the three dumping places, and were composed of three species of adult flies. Musca vicina, Aldrichina grahami, and Muscina stabulans. They were marked with aniline dyes and were released from the trapping sites in the very day. 32〜35 traps were distributed on four concentric circles at the distances of 50, 100, 200, 400m, from the release point respectively, for the purpose of the recapture. The recapture operations were conducted during 3〜4 days. The temperature measured at the release points at 10 a.m. ranged from 2.3 to 13.0℃. The results obtained were summarized as follows : Musca vicina, Aldrichina grahami and Muscina stabulans were recovered in the trap placed up to the maximum distance, 400m. Percentage of total recaptures in A. grahami and in M. vicina were 3.2% and 0.9% respectively. Percentage of the recaptures of A. grahami were exclusively higher than that of M. vicina on each circle. The rate of marked individuals of the whole flies showed comparatively higher at the traps located on the circle of the distance less than 100m, for both species. It would seem that A. grahmi leaves away from the release point more rapidly than M. vicina. From the results thus obtained, it was shown that M. vicina is likely to assemble in residential districts than in open areas, while A. grahami to congregate in open areas.

View full abstract

1) From June to November, 1951, mosquitoes were collected by a sucking tube at a goat-house in the suburbs of Utsunomiya City. 2) 2, 413 mosquitoes referable to 3 genera, 8 species, were collected. Of these C. tritaeniorhynchus (27.6%) was dominant in number, and A. sinensis (21.4%), Ar. subalbatus (20.0%), Ae. vexans nipponii (17.2%), C. pipiens (12.6%), etc., followed it. It is remarkable that the rate of the collection of C. tritaeniorhynchus is comparatively small and Ar. subalbatus is collected extremely large in number. 3) The majority of mosquitoes collected are the female, and the male occupied only 0.2% of the total number of mosquitoes. 4) C. tritaeniorhynchus shows the maximum in the middle of August and disappears in the middle of September. 5) A. sinensis reaches the highest peak from the end of July to the biginning of August and afterward the second peak. This species disappears in the middle of October. 6) Ar. subalbatus appears considerably large in number in the middle of June. This species shows a peak respectively at the end of June, August and September, the last peak being the highest, and disappears in November. 7) Ar. vexans nipponii has showed the muximum in the middle of July. This species appears in small number continuously and disappears in the middle of October. 8) C. pipiens shows the maximum at the end of July and disappears in November. 9) C. bitaeniorhynchus is collected in small numbers continuously from the end of June to the end of September and appears comparatively large in number during the later part of October. 10) As a whole, the muximum activity of all the mosquitoes is attained from the end of June to the end of August. But there are some differences among the periods of maximum activities of various mosquito species.

View full abstract

From June to October, 1959, fly-surveys were made in three places of Ibaraki Prefecture, Dejima, Tsuchiura and Daigo with regard to the fly-fauna bred from the livestock bed of cattle barns and pig pens. Flies taken from pens and the same from houses were also compared. The flies emerged out from three cattle barns and two pig pens were classified into 7 families, 13 genera and 17 species. The majority of them were the species of public health importance. The dominant family was the Muscidae. Stomoxys calcitrans was the most dominant in number and Musca vicina was the next. It was observed that in autumn there was a noticeable rise in number of M. vicina and S. calcitrans emerging out from the livestock bed. S. calcitrans was the major constituent (75%) of fly-fauna in animal pens, whereas most of flies taken by traps set in houses were M. vicina.

View full abstract

A comparison was made between the CSMA, Takatsuki and RP strains, the last has developed organophosphorus resistance in Switzerland. The LD_<50> value to diazinon topically applied to female RP flies was about 10 times that of the CSMA and Takatsuki, respectively. The ratio of the LD_<50> of RP flies to that of regular flies was 4.4-19.8 for γ-BHC, 24.8-34.4 for dieldrin, and 3.2-65.4 for technical DDT. Tests using the third instar larvae of the RP strain indicated the larval LC_<50> level to be 13 times the normal larvae for diazinon.

View full abstract

Residual effects of several insecticides against adult of Blattella germanica L., Periplaneta japonica K. and Periplaneta americana L. were estimated by contact with the insecticides, treated on plywood pannel at rate of 50cc per square meter, for 6 or 24 hours and mortality counts were recorded 6 days after the contacts. Period of residual effcts of 5% dieldrin, 5% diazinon and 5% chlordane were 2 to 9 months, 1 to 2 months and 1 to 2 months, respectively. Lindane has effectiveness for 1 to 2 months to the males but no efficiency to the females. 5% DDVP was inferior in its residual effects though the initial effects were satisfactory. 5% malathion appeared to have neither initial nor residual effects to the cockroaches.

View full abstract

1. In July 25, 1955, one of the authors, caught two adult scorpions at the mouth of the Myohoji River, Suma Seacoast, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture. 2. The scorpions inhabited on dampish sand under a rock at the seashore. 3. This specimen almost agrees in the general taxonomic characters with Buthus martensii Karsch. 4. The specimen is female by the morphology of the pedipalps genital palates, and its body length (6.5mm) shows that it is an adult. 5. Abnormalities are found in that the comblike organs and lateral eyes, both important in taxonomical characters, are 27 and 3 in numbers, respectively. 6. This is the first record from Japan, as the species has hitherto not been found there. 7. Judged from the geographical circumstances of its habitat, it seems probable that they were carried from the original locality by marine baggage, to which they attached, landed by chance, and survived.

View full abstract

Five species of fleas of the genus Peromyscopsylla I. Fox (family Leptopsyllidae) have been reported in Japan by several authors. P. hamifer takahasii is the only form which is distributed in Hokkaido. P. udagawai, ino and segregata which belong to hamifer group of Johnson and Traub (1954), and are alike one another, inhabit the different parts of the central Honshu. P. himalaica occurs on the Izu islands and Kochi-ken, Shikoku. In the present paper, the author has corrected some confusions caused by the mis-identities of the previous papers and describes a new subspecies of hamifer collected from the vole, Clethrionomys andersoni taken in Aomori-ken, northern part of Honshu. The author would like to express his gratitude to the following gentlemen for their kind help in the course of study : Mr. G. P. Holland, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa ; Dr. Masuo Ikuzawa, Osaka City University, Osaka ; Dr. E. W. Jameson, Jr., University of California, Davis ; Dr. Nobuo Kumada, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo ; Mr. Hiroshi Nakagawa, Research Institute for Natural Resources, Tokyo ; Mr. F. G. A. M. Smit, British Museum, Tring ; and Dr. Robert Traub, U. S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Washington. The present study was carried out under the guidance of Prof. Kaoru Morishita and Prof. Shozo Inoki of the university, and the author is indebted to them for their encouragements and criticisms throughout this study.

View full abstract

The occurrence of true bear flea, Chaetopsylla (Arctopsylla) tuberculaticeps (Bezzi, 1890) in Hokkaido was briefly reported last year (Sakaguti and Jameson 1959). In the present paper the author has taken up again this interesting flea and has pointed out the weakness to establish two subspecies in bear flea, Ch. tuberculaticeps. The materials used in the discussion were obtained from Brown Bear, Ursus arctos yesoensis Lydekker, 1897 at Sounkyo, northeastern foot of Daisetsu mountain group, Ishikari-no-kuni, Hokkaido. Hokkaido is located between the Eurasiatic mainland where the subspecies tuberculaticeps is found and North America where the subspecies ursi occurs. In Hokkaido specimens, the main characters which are divisible are intermediate or complicated in several points. As it was mentioned in Sakaguti and Jameson (1959), the main characters which subspecies ursi is separable from the original form were defined by N. C. Rothschild (1932) and by Hopkins and M. Rothschild (1956) as follows : the antennal club in the male is longer in length and more tapered or nearly parallel-side. The anterior apical angle of phallosome is generally almost rectangular, but there are no clear differences in the female. On the examination of 13 examples of the male specimens collected in Hokkaido, it was found that the length of the antennal club is not so long as that of ursi and its shape is more rounded like tuberculaciceps. The apical angles of phallosome of the Hokkaido specimens, on the other hand, are almost rectangular as ursi. This result is very reasonable from the zoogeographical point of view. Actually all the students have failed to distinguish both subspecies in the female and we have not also been able to distinguish in several important points of the male such as in the shapes of clasper, movable finger and the others. Ioff and Skalon (1954) and Hopkins and M. Rothschild (1956) said that the difference in both Palaearctic and North American representatives of this species is very weak and has not been firmly established. It should be said that there is indeed a single tuberculaticeps in the world although it is rich in the variations. The author has enumerated the collecting-data of the bear flea which were reported by several specialists from the various parts of the world, and the author has refered to the relationships to the hosts, Ursus arctos in the Palaearctic region and Ursus horribilis and Euarctos americanus in North America. Besides, a short account is given on one example of abnormality of the spermatheca with double tail found on the Hokkaido specimens.

View full abstract

A new species of flea was collected from Japanese Dormouse, Glirulus japonicus (Schinz, 1845) in the Central Honshu by the authors and is described in the present paper. The authors express their gratitude to Mr. F. G, A. M. Smit of the British Museum (Natural History) for his helpful suggestions.

View full abstract

Tabanus (Tabanus) otsurui n. sp. is described and figured (Fig.1, Fig.2) here, comparing with Tabanus (Tabanus) geminus Szilady which is similar to this species. The described holotype and allotype are ♀ and ♂ adults emerged from the larvae, which have been collected in slime of sewerage of hotspring, Myokokogen town, Niigata prefecture, 31 July 1958 and reared individually.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract