Fleas - Biology Of Fleas, Species Of Fleas, Fleas And Diseases
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Fleas are about one thousand species of small insects in the order Siphonaptera, including several hundred species in North America. Adult fleas are external parasites (that is, ectoparasites) of mammals or birds, living on skin or in fur or feathers, and feeding on the blood of their hosts. Some fleas are serious parasites of birds or mammals, and may cause important damage to domestic animals, and sometimes great discomfort to humans. Some species of fleas are vectors of serious diseases of humans or other animals. Infestations of fleas often must be dealt with using topical applications of an insecticide.
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Fleas have a laterally compressed body, a tough, smooth cuticle with many backward-projecting bristles, and relatively long legs. The mouth parts of fleas include stylets that are used to pierce the skin of the host animal, so that a blood meal can be obtained by sucking. Fleas have a life cycle characterized by four developmental stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The eggs are usually laid clos…
Many of the species of fleas that infest domestic mammals and birds will also utilize humans as a host, although people are not the generally preferred host of these blood-sucking parasites. The most deadly disease that can be spread to humans by fleas is bubonic plague or black death, caused by the bacterium Pasteurella pestis, and spread to people by various species of fleas, but particularly by…
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User Comments
7 months ago
Donna
I have put bowls of water in the carpeted rooms of my house. Whatever fleas are in the area will jump into the water and drown. Have you heard of this? It was suggested by an elderly gentleman who said his family used it years ago? How good is a flea's eyesight?
Thank you for you response.
Donna B.