Sunday 1 October 2000

A comparison of jump performances of the dog flea, Ctenocephalides canis (Curtis, 1826) and the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis felis (Bouché, 1835)

Veterinary Parasitology
Volume 92, Issue 3, 1 October 2000, Pages 239–241

Marie-Christine Cadiergues [a], Christel Joubert [a], Michel Franc [b]

[a] Unité de Dermatologie-Parasitologie, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse 23, chemin des Capelles 31076, Toulouse cedex 3, France
[b] Unité Associée INRA de Physiopathologie et Toxicologie expérimentales, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse 23, chemin des Capelles 31076, Toulouse cedex 3, France

Abstract

Jump performances of Ctenocephalides canis and Ctenocephalides felis felis have been measured and compared on unfed young imagos. The mean length of the C. felis felis jump was 19.9±9.1 cm; minimum jump was 2 cm, and the maximum was one 48 cm. The C. canis jump was significantly longer (30.4±9.1 cm; from 3 to 50 cm). For height jump evaluation, grey plastic cylindric tubes measuring 9 cm in diameter were used. Their height was increasing from 1 to 30 cm by 1 cm. Groups of 10 fleas of the same species were deposited on the base of the tube. The number of fleas which succeeded in jumping above the tube was recorded. The mean height jump carried out by 50% of fleas was calculated after linearisation of the curves: it was 15.5 and 13.2 cm for C. canis and C. felis, respectively. The highest jump was 25 for C. canis and 17 cm for C. felis.

Keywords

Ctenocephalides canis; Ctenocephalides felis felis; Jump performance

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304401700002740

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