Description
• Size: 1/8 inch (3mm)• Color: Very Dark• Wingless• 3 pair of legs, Third pair modified for jumping• Vertically flat like a fish
Classification
Phylum: ArthropodaSubphylum: Hexapoda
Class: InsectaSubClass:: PterogotaOrder: Siphonaptera
Ctenocephalides Canis (dog fleas)Ctenocephalides Felis (cat fleas)
Geographic Range
• EVERY WHERE MAMMALS CAN BE FOUND
HABITAT
• THE COOL AND DRIER FALL WEATHER
• HOUSE PETS MAINTAIN SMALL FLEA POPULATIONS IN THE
WINTER• NUMBERS WILL INCREASE IN THE
SPRING • BIGGEST POULATION IN THE
SUMMER
Life History
• Feeding habits: Flakes of skin
Dried Blood
Tissue• Reproducing males and females must have blood
Life History
• Nesting habits: Fleas nest in there host’s hair• The host is a mammal of some
sort•Mostly dogs, cats, and humans
Life History
• Reproduction: • Males deposit sperm directly
into the reproductive organs of the females. The male will clasp on to the sides of a female. With special claspers at the tip of his abdomen he locks his body to the tip of the females abdomen.
Life History
• Life Cycle • Female fleas lay eggs in host’s hair • The egg drops off and hatches into a
tiny, hairy worm like larvae.• Larvae pupate and new adults find a
host immediately and eat• They need blood to survive and
produce eggs.
Life History
• Care of young: Fleas don’t care for there young they lay there eggs and leave
• Special adaptation: Some believe the third leg was an adaptation so the flea could jump easier and faster, but there's no hard evidence
• Resent studies: there are no resent studies that I could discover
References• adult flea. (n.d.). Retrieved 2010, from Do it Yourselp pest control:
www.pestproducts.com• Day, E. (1996). Fleas. Retrieved 2010, from
http://sites.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/factsheets/fleas.html• Dittmar. (n.d.). About Fleas. Retrieved 2010, from Web.mac.com• Fleas: Siphonaptera. (2010). Retrieved 2010, from
http://animals.jrank.org/pages/2490/Fleas-Siphonaptera.html• Kozhukhov, O. (2007). Everything about fleas. Retrieved 2010, from
Everything about: http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/flea/
• Pickering, J. (2010, February 15). Discover Life. Retrieved 2010, from Discover Life: www.discoverlife.org
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