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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
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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

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