SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas

SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas

SYNAPOMORPHIES

• Adult apterous, bilaterally compressed, ectoparasites on

mammals and birds
• Compound eyes small or absent; ocelli absent
• Antennae short, in cranial grooves (Male antennae serve
as accessory clasping organs)
• Sucking mouthparts with labral (“epipharynx”) and lacinial
stylets; mandibles absent
• Thorax greatly specialized (abdominal terga overlap the
sclerotized sterna; metepimeron enlarged accommodating
leaping muscles)
• Larvae legless
• (Long labial palps [up to five segments in some species])
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Diagnostic characteristics
• Heavily sclerotized
• Laterally compressed (only laterally
compressed ectoparasitic insects)
• Eyes absent or nearly so; ocelli
absent
• Antennae short, 9 flat flagellomeres,
lie in grooves - scrobes
• Wing absent and thorax reduced
• Ctenidia - well developed stiff setae
on body that point backwards
• Sensilium (pygidium) of tergite IX
(detects air movement, vibrations, temp
gradients)
• Large tarsal claws
• Large hind coxae (with pads of resilin
at base)
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Mouthparts & Feeding
• Mandibles absent
• Labrum (“epipharynx”) and
paired, serrated maxillary
laciniae pierce skin and suck
blood
• Food channel formed by
epipharynx, salivary channel by
laciniae
• Palps long and prominent
• Both sexes feed; water absorbed
in rectum
• Proventricular acanthae prevent
backflow of blood (also clog
bacteria)
• Feces and undigested blood
released as black drops that dry
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Habitat & Habits
• Adults feed on blood of host, primarily the Rodentia
• Only 6% of species on birds, 75% on rodents; none on
humans as primary host, none on marine mammals
• Exhibit wide range of host specificity - highly host specific,
habitat specific, or broadly host specific; cat flea,
Ctenocephalides felis, occurs on 8 orders of mammals
and lizards; bird flea, Ceratophyllis gallinae, on over 100
species
• Co-speciation not as prevalent as is Phthiraptera
• Habitat requirements of larvae probably most important in
determining host and geographic distributions
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Habitat & Habits
• Female lays eggs in den or nest
of host or on host while in nest;
eggs sticky
• Larvae are free-living in nest or
den of host; feed on debris,
feces of host, dried secretions,
and dried, bloody feces of
adults
• Larvae legless, eyeless, with
long, stiff setae; well developed
mouthparts; 3 larval instars;
final one spins a silken pupal
cocoon
• Adult emerges in cocoon and
may stay inside for long period
waiting for host to return
(stimulated by CO2 of host)
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Medical Importance
• Three species in the flea genus Xenopsylla (Pulicidae) transmit
plague, but especially X. cheopis
• Causative agent is a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, a disease of flea,
harbored in rodents, principally the brown rat, Rattus rattus
• “Black Death” - Originated in China and followed Silk Road to
Europe
• Rural famine, resulted in over crowding in cities in Europe in the
mid-1300s with resultant unsanitary conditions and explosion of rat
populations
• As rats became infected and died, fleas sought out other hosts -
humans
• Millions of people died (est. 30-60% of population!); took 200 years
for populations to recover; other important outbreaks over the
centuries. China lost half its population!
• Only in 1914 was causative agent discovered by British-Indian
Plague Commission and independently by a Japanese researcher
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Medical Importance
• As flea feeds on infected host, the bacteria multiply in midgut,
causing partial or complete blockage of proventriculus
• Fleas with blocked proventriculi feel starved, so they feed
even more frequently, and more indiscriminately
• The blocking causes fleas to regurgitate blood, causing even
more infection. Fleas eventually dies from starvation.
• Even fleas without blocked guts can spread plague via their
mouthparts
• Scratching feces or ingesting flea will also spread disease;
sneezing, coughing, contact
• Infection causes blackish swellings at bites, called “buboes,”
hence “bubonic plague”
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Additional Medical (and Veterinary) Importance
• Virus: myxomatosis of rabbits

• Bacteria: tularemia, murine typhus, Q fever, sylvatic

typhus, salmonellosis, staphylococcal infection, plague;
mammals

• Protozoa: murine and rabbit trypanosomiasis

• Nematoda: canine filariasis

• Cestoda (as intermediate hosts): several dog, cat, rodent,

and human tapeworms
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Diversity and Distribution
2,500 species in 15 families
Taxonomy well known due to the medical importance of fleas,
the major transmitters of plague
Major series of works by Hopkins & Rothschild (1953-1971) of
the British Museum
Dame Miriam Rothschild, world’s foremost authority
(1904-2005)
 SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Diversity and Distribution
Stephanocircidae - helmet fleas,
head very reduced, dominated by
genal combs; southern South America
(rodents, some marsupials and
insectivores) and Australia
(marsupials)
Pulicidae, Tunginae - Tunga
penetrans, chigger,chigoe flea, bicho
do pé, SE Asia, Africa, American
tropics; females burrows in skin under
toenail, between toes; only anus and
gonopore exposed, feeds and expands
to 1000X her original size; releases
1000 of eggs; site becomes infected
and very painful; common around pigs
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Diversity and Distribution
Ceratophyllidae - largest family, several subfamilies; some
show high host specificity; on ground squirrels, pocket
gophers, etc.
Ischnopsyllidae - exclusively on bats
Leptopsyllidae - small rodents, house mouse, mountain
beaver
Ctenophthalmidae - small rodents, flying squirrels,
chipmunks, woodrats, deermice, etc, and shrews, moles;
also on the mountain beaver
Hystrichopsyllidae - small rodents, insectivores
Rhopalopsyllidae - armadillos, possums, small rodents
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas
Diversity and Distribution
Pulicidae - includes the cat flea (Ctenosephalides felis)
and dog flea (C. canis), both not native to North America.
Cat fleas very common and with wide host range; dog flea
intermediate host of dog tapeworm. Includes “sticktight”
flea of domestic poultry and Pulex irritans L., on a broad
range of mammal hosts and sometimes associated with
human habitations; other pulicids of birds, rabbits, and the
infamous Xenopsylla cheopis, associated with plague.

Vermipsyllidae - carnivores (racoons, foxes, wolves,

bears)
SIPHONAPTERA - Fleas

Collecting and Preserving

• Collect from host animal and from their nests, dens, bedding,
etc.
• Collect nest themselves and bring into lab. Observe in white
pan over several days-weeks and pick off fleas with small, wet
brush
• In areas of high numbers of adults, walk around with white
clothing and collect fleas as they jump on you!
• Preserve in formalin free alcohol and later clear and mount on
microscope slides
• Record identity of host!
• Chaetotaxy important in taxonomy