Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:05:17.386Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Observations on the Larvae of Fleas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

A. W. Bacot
Affiliation:
Entomologist at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine
W. G. Ridewood
Affiliation:
Lecturer on Biology at the Medical School of St Mary's Hospital, London.

Extract

Fleas are insects that undergo a complete metamorphosis in the course of their development from egg to adult. The eggs laid by the mother are not, as are the eggs of lice, attached in any way to the skin, fur or feathers of the animal on which the parents are parasitic. They fall into the nest, or drop to the ground within the lair or “ run ” of the host. Hatching takes from three to ten days according to the temperature. The larvae are active, whitish maggots, eyeless and legless, which are not parasitic, but feed on organic matter in the host's bed, or in the dust that collects on the ground in its proximity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1914

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blanchard, E. (1868). Métamorphoses, mæurs et instincts des Insectes. Paris, 1868 (second edition, 1877).Google Scholar
Bonnet, G. (1867). Mémoire sur la Puce pénétrant ou Chique. Archives de médecine navale, VIII. Paris, two plates.Google Scholar
Defrance, , Bonnet, G.. (1824). Notice sur la Puce irritante. Ann. des Sci. Nat. I. 440443.Google Scholar
Künckel, J. (1873). Observations sur les Puces, en particulier sur les Larves des Puces de Chat et de Loir (Pulex felis et Pulex fasciatus). Ann. Soc. Ent. France, Sér. V. III. 129142, one plate.Google Scholar
Laboulbène, A. (1872). Métamorphoses de la Puce du Chat (Pulex felis, Bouché). Ann. Soc. Ent. France, Sér. v. II. 267274, one plate.Google Scholar
Newstead, R. (19071908). Insects and other Arthropoda collected in the Congo Free State, by Newstead, R., Dutton, J. E., and Todd, J. L.Ann. of Trop. Med. and Parasitology, Liverpool, I. Pulicidae, 93–4, one plate.Google Scholar
Packard, A. S. (1894). On the Systematic Position of the Siphonaptera, with Notes on their Structure. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. XXVI. 312355, 35 text-figures.Google Scholar
Taschenberg, O. (1880). Die Flöhe. Halle, pp. 122, 4 plates.Google Scholar