|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
 Fleas
Adult fleas are small, brownish insects flattened from side to side,
without wings but with powerful jumping legs. Adults can live for
several years and go without feeding for months at a time under
extreme conditions. Fleas can remain in a structure long after the
host mammals have been removed. Depending on the species and
environmental conditions, adults can breed from two weeks to two
years after emerging. Adults feed on blood, and females deposit eggs
only after a blood meal.
Cat fleas
Ctenocephalides felis (Bouche), can elicit more than the proverbial
itch. This species of blood feeder is one of the primary infestants
encountered by homeowners.
Fleas are both medically and veterinarily significant because of
their ability to transmit diseases like murine typhus and plague.
Although there are over 250 species of fleas described in North
America (Pratt 1957), only a few are commonly encountered by humans
with enough frequency to be considered pests
Most species remain on the host only long enough to feed. Nearly all
species have host preferences but are not restricted to any one host
species. This trait is responsible for the transmission of several
diseases (e.g. plague or murine typhus) from one host species to
another. Adults prefer warm humid places and will leave a host if it
dies.
Outdoors, fleas are most abundant during humid, rainy summers and
are more common outside in the southern United States than in the
north. Indoors, warmth and high relative humidities are conducive to
large populations. The sudden appearance of large numbers of adult
fleas in mid-summer and fall ("flea seasons") is due in large part
to the onset of higher humidities and temperatures which permit
larval development to accelerate. Larvae may undergo arrested
development in less than favorable conditions.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
