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Fleas
Latin Name: Ctenocephalides felis
Common Name: Cat Flea
Latin Family Name: Siphonaptera
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
There are dozens of different species of fleas, but the Cat Flea is by far the most common flea on pets and in structures in the United States. It originated in Africa as an ectoparasite of the large native cats.
Biology:
The Cat Flea is a blood feeder as the adult, and a scavenger as the larva. The adults remain on the animals they feed on unless physically forced off, and may live up to a year. The female lays the eggs on the host animal and these eggs fall off to the floor or other surface below. The eggs hatch in a few days and the larvae begins to feed on organic debris it finds, but also must consume some dried blood in order to progress to the pupa stage. This blood is from the dried feces of the adult fleas, and it falls off the pets wherever they spend time.
Latin Name: Tunga penetrans
Common Name: Chigoe Flea
Other Names: Family also Tungidae, Jigger, Chigger (in Latin America), Chique, Sand Flea
Pest Details
Origin:
This flea is found throughout most of the world. It is tropical in origin and may only be found in the southern U.S. as well as all of Latin America.
Biology:
These fleas have an unusual biology in that they generally live in soil and sandy areas, but on a regular basis they will get onto a host animal to feed and then fall off again. The female, when ready to produce her eggs, needs a final blood meal and at this time she burrows into the skin of the host animal, head first to allow the tip of the abdomen to protrude so that she can breathe. Over the next 2 weeks she swells to the size of a pea, produces several dozen eggs that are released to drop to the soil, and following this the female flea dies. On humans the infection is nearly always on the feet, due to barefoot
Latin Name: Pulex irritans
Common Name: Human Flea
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
It is believed that this flea, now found throughout the world, may have originated in South America, feeding on native mammals there. It is extremely rare in North America.
Biology:
Despite its common name this flea rarely feeds on human, but is known to feed on a great many other warm blooded animals, including peridomestic rats, fowl, bats, opossum and other wild mammals, horses, as well as cats and dogs. The adult fleas may live nearly 2 years. The females deposit up to 500 eggs on the host animal as well as on the floors of the structures they inhabit. The fleas are capable of transmitting the numerous pathogens such as plague, tularemia and tapeworm, but is most implicated in spreading murine typhus.
Identification:
All fleas are similar in appearance, as wingless insects with bodies flattened from side to
Latin Name: Xenopsylla cheopis
Common Name: Oriental Rat Flea
Other Names: Tropical rat flea
Pest Details
Origin:
It is possible this flea originated in eastern Asia in association with Norway and Roof rats.
Biology:
This flea species is the one most notorious for spreading Bubonic Plague, as it has a tendency to become infected with the pathogen. While feeding on an infected host animal the plague bacteria are ingested, but these bacteria may form a blockage in the foregut of the flea, preventing it from swallowing additional blood. In an effort to clear this blockage the adult flea regurgitates as it attempts to feed, potentially pushing the bacteria into the new host animal. The worse the blockage gets the more it attempts to feed, accelerating the transmitting of the disease to many hosts. The life cycle is, otherwise, similar to most fleas. Eggs are deposited on the host animals, which includes rodents most
Latin Name: Hoplopsyllus sp., Diamanus sp.
Common Name: Squirrel Flea
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
These are likely to be native fleas in North America.
Biology:
These are additional flea species that commonly infest wild rodents of many kinds and which may bite humans when people are active in areas where heavily infested squirrels live. They are capable of harboring and vectoring the plague bacteria and may result in closures of campgrounds and park areas when squirrel populations are high and plague surveillance detects infected fleas on them.
Identification:
All fleas are similar in appearance, as wingless insects with bodies flattened from side to side and with long hind legs for jumping. They are black to reddish black in color and have spiny legs as well as rows of spines along other body areas called “combs”. These combs are important for identification of the species. The genal comb
Latin Name: Echidnophaga gallinacea
Common Name: Sticktight Flea
Other Names: N/A
Pest Details
Origin:
Possibly native to Europe or Asia but transported around the world on infested animals.
Biology:
This species of flea is found throughout the world, including in the U.S. along the East Coast south to Florida and west to the Pacific Coast and north into Oregon. It feeds on a wide range of host animals including birds and poultry, dogs and cats, rodents, horses, and occasionally humans. The adults attach themselves to the host animal and remain in place, often in large masses and often around the ears, eyes and mouth area where the skin is bare or nearly so. Females may move about at night, but in general the adult fleas remain in place for several weeks. Their feeding creates skin lesions and swelling and the eggs are laid into crevices there. The larvae then emerge and fall to the substrate to feed on organic