Type Host: unknown; from Moscow, Idaho.
Deposition, host records, and locality: HWML 91992, R. megalotis /Grama Grass 2012; HWML 91993, Pm. maniculatus /Double Tank 2012; HWML 91995, Pm. maniculatus /Double Tank 2012; HWML 92000, Pm. maniculatus /Arapahoe 2012; HWML 101689, Pm. leucopus /Station Grounds 2013; HWML 101690, Pm. leucopus /Station Grounds 2013; HWML 101691, Pm. leucopus /Station Grounds 2013; HWML 92008, Pm. leucopus /Station Grounds 2013; HWML 92009, Pm. leucopus /Station Grounds 2013; HWML 101802 and 101803, Pm. leucopus /Breen’s Flyway 2013; HWML 101819, R. megalotis / Breen’s Flyway 2013.
Remarks: Aetheca wagneri is a common flea of deer mice of the genus Peromyscus (Holland 1985). The male is easily recognized by the moveable process that is long and triangular, armed at posterior apex with three blunt spiniforms (two are short, stud-like, and clustered, the other is about five times as long as the upper two). The females have a distinctive, vermiform spermatheca with hilla broader than bulga. Haas et al. (2004) report the species from Peromyscus gratus Merriam in southwestern New Mexico. This flea was also collected in Arizona from Pm. maniculatus, but only at higher altitudes of 8-9,000 feet (Beer et al. 1959).