Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:49:19.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The water relations of the larva of Xenopsylla cheopis (Siphonaptera)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

M. Sharif
M. Sharif
Affiliation:
Assistant Director in charge of Department of Entomology, Haffkine Institute, Parel, Bombay, India
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A considerable loss of water in the flea larva, through its defaecation and excretion as the result of the absence of rectal glands, through a profuse evaporation from the surface cuticle on account of its being a soil inhabitant, and from its tracheal system owing to the absence of an efficient closing apparatus of the spiracles, is compensated by the absorption of water with the food and through the cuticle, and by the utilization of metabolic water.

It has been proved, by conducting experiments on the food composed of dried horse blood and yeast, with different degrees of moisture contents, and by controlling the quantity of the desiccated food and the duration of its exposure to a low effective humidity of 60% at 22° C., that the chief source of the gain of water in the larva of Xenopsylla cheopis is through the food.

The closing mechanism of the spiracles of the flea larva plays only a small part in the control of evaporation at medial temperatures but not at extreme ones.

There are intrinsic differences in the water requirements of the flea larvae of the two sexes, being slightly less in the male larva than in the female larva.

I am greatly obliged to Lt.-Col. Sir Sahib Singh Sokhey, Director, Haffkine Institute, Bombay, for affording me facilities for the pursuit of these investigations. Mr T. N. Raste has helped me in the calculation of the data statistically, for which I am grateful to him.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 39 , Issue 1-2 , July 1948 , pp. 148 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1948

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

REFERENCES

Buxton, P. A. (1932). Biol. Rev. 7, 275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buxton, P. A. (1938). Indian J. Med. Res. 26, 505.Google Scholar
Buxton, P. A. & Mellanby, K. (1934). Bull. Ent. Res. 25, 171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, A. C. (1943). Nature, Lond., 152, 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. A. (1941). Statistical Methods for Research Workers, 8th ed. Edinburgh and London.Google Scholar
Fisher, R. A. & Yates, F. (1943). Statistical Tables for Biological, Agricultural and Medical Research, 2nd ed. London and Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Govaerts, J. & Leclercq, J. (1946). Nature, Lond., 157, 483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurst, H. (1941). Nature, Lond., 147, 388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lees, A. D. (1946). Parasitology, 37, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellanby, K. (1934). Proc. Roy. Soc. B, 116, 139.Google Scholar
Sharif, M. (1937 a). Parasitology, 29, 225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharif, M. (1937 b). Philos. Trans. B, 227, 465.Google Scholar
Sharif, M. (1948 a). Effects of constant temperature and humidity on the development of the larvae and the pupae of the three Indian species of Xenopsylla (Siphonaptera). [In the Press.]Google Scholar
Sharif, M. (1948 b). Parasitology, 39, 253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sikes, E. K. (1931). Parasitology, 23, 243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wigglesworth, V. B. (1932). Quart. J. Micr. Sci. 75, 131.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, V. B. (1935). Proc. Roy. Soc. B, 118, 397.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, V. B. (1939). The Principles of Insect Physiology. London.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, V. B. (1945). J. Exp. Biol. 21, 97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar