Host and distribution data are provided for the 26 species of fleas recorded from Georgia, U.S.A.: Cediopsylla inaequalis, C. simplex (rabbit flea), Ctenocephalides canis (dog flea), C. felis (cat flea), Echidnophaga gallinacea (sticktight flea), Pulex irritans (human flea), P. simulans, Xenopsylla cheopis (Oriental rat flea), Polygenis gwyni, Conorhinopsylla stanfordi, Ctenophthalmus pseuadagyrtes, Doratopsylla blarinae, Epitedia cavernicola, E. wenmanni, Nearctopsylla georgiana, Stenoponia americana, Ceratophyllus celsus, Nosopsyilus fasciatus (northern rat flea), Orchopeas howardi (squirrel flea), O. leucopus, O. pennsylvanicus, Leptopsylla segnis (European mouse flea), Odontopsyllus multispinosus, Peromyscopsylla hesperomys, P. scotti and Sternopsylla distincta texana. Three of these species, P. gwyni, N. georgiana and O. howardi, were described from Georgia specimens. While some of these flea species appear to be widely distributed throughout Georgia, C. inaequalis represents an introduction on hosts introduced for hunting from western North America, D. blarinae, E. cavernicola, N. georgiana, C. celsus and P. hesperomys were recorded only from Piedmont or mountainous regions in northern Georgia, and P. gwyni was mainly recorded in the Coastal Plain of southern Georgia. Nearctopsylla georgiana is known from only a single specimen and has never been recorded outside of northern Georgia. Fleas associated with domestic rats (Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus) were abundant in Georgia, especially coastal and southern Georgia during the 1930s–1950s but currently appear to be uncommon in the state. There were concerted control efforts against Rattus spp. and their fleas during that time period because of their reservoir and vector status, respectively, for Rickettsia typhi, the causative agent of murine (endemic) typhus. Human cases of murine typhus in Georgia have almost disappeared in recent decades. Other flea-borne diseases in Georgia include cat flea rickettsiosis caused by Rickettsia felis, bartonellosis (including cat scratch disease caused by Bartonella henselae), and sylvatic epidemic typhus caused by certain strains of Rickettsia prowazekii. Further, cat and dog fleas are intermediate hosts of the double-pored tapeworm, Dipylidium caninum, which typically infects dogs but can also infect cats and humans if infected fleas are inadvertently ingested. Human and pet-biting fleas such as the cat flea can also cause flea-bite dermatitis in dogs, cats and humans. Poultry fleas such as E. gallinacea currently appear to be uncommon on domesticated birds in Georgia but this flea sometimes infests chickens, dogs and some other mammals in fairly large numbers.

The ear region of the aardvark, Orycteropus afer (Pallas, 1766), including the auditory ossicles, is described and illustrated in detail based on five museum specimens (one from the United States National Museum and the remainder from Carnegie Museum of Natural History). Comparisons are made with the few published ear regions of extinct orycteropids, the late Miocene Amphiorycteropus abundalufus (Lehmann et al., 2005) from Chad, and Amphiorycteropus gaudryi (Major, 1888) from Greece, as well as with the enigmatic Plesiorycteropus Filhol, 1895, from the Quaternary of Madagascar.

Orycteropus afer is considered to be the single living aardvark species, but as many as 18 poorly-defined subspecies are recognized across its sub-Saharan Africa range. The small sample studied here exhibits surprising morphological diversity for many features of the ear region, and some, but not all, differences fall along subspecific lines. The more striking differences concern the squamosal and alisphenoid epitympanic sinuses, the alisphenoid tympanic process, the post- and entoglenoid processes of the squamosal, and the anterior crus of the ectotympanic. The significance of these preliminary findings awaits future morphological and molecular studies on this unusual mammal.

A new genus of crab from the Late Cretaceous of Antarctica increases diversity within Necrocarcinidae Förster, 1968, and demonstrates what appear to be gradual evolution and sympatric speciation in the southern high latitudes. New taxa include Hadrocarcinus tectilacus, new genus, new species, as well as two new combinations, Hadrocarcinus carinatus (Feldmann et al., 1993) and Hadrocarcinus wrighti (Feldmann et al., 1993). Necrocarcinidae was paleogeographically widespread by the middle Early Cretaceous, but the geographic distribution and diversity of the group increased even further by the middle Late Cretaceous, perhaps as a result of high sea levels and elevated global temperatures at that time. The paleogeographic range and diversity of necrocarcinids decreased during the latest Cretaceous and into the earliest Paleocene (Danian), possibly due to decreases in sea level and global temperatures, restricting the family to the northern high latitudes. Alternatively, apparent diversity trends in Necrocarcinidae may simply reflect available rock volume.

The family Micromomyidae includes diminutive plesiadapiforms characterized by highly specialized premolars and relatively primitive molars. Perhaps as a result of their small size, micromomyids show a spotty distribution through space and time, with documented records ranging from the middle Tiffanian of Alberta to the early Wasatchian of Wyoming. The micromomyids of Big Multi Quarry, an early Clarkforkian site in southwestern Wyoming that has yielded the most diverse plesiadapiform fauna known to date, are described here. Dryomomys dulcifer, new species, is the oldest and most primitive species of this rare micromomyid genus currently known. Tinimomys tribos, new species, retains primitive dental features that have been modified in Tinimomys graybulliensis Szalay, 1974. The apparent sympatry shown by Dryomomys and Tinimomys at Big Multi Quarry suggests that these closely related micromomyids occupied distinct ecological niches, although the nature of any such distinctions remains unknown.