6.2 Fleas and Ticks Flashcards
What are fleas called? What is the most common type
Siphonaptera; Ctenocephalides
Hosts of fleas are _________ but some have _______________ tastes
preferred; cosmopolitan
what is the general appearance of fleas (4)
wingless, laterally compressed, have genal and pronotal combs, have long legs (they tried to put me on the cover of Vogue, but my legs were toooo long)
what type of life cycle do fleas have
complex metamorphosis: Eggs -> Larvae -> Pupae -> Adults
Where do flea larvae and pupae live? What about adults?
Larvae and pupae live in the environment; adults can live on the host or move on and off
what is the significance of the setae (spines) on fleas
they are backwards facing and make removal of the flea challenging
how can you tell apart a dipteran larvae (maggot) from a flea larvae (maggot)
flea maggots have a brown head and anal struts
what do adult fleas vs larvae feed on?
adults feed on blood from the host; larvae feed on flea dirt, which is undigested blood produced by the adult fleas
what is the life cycle of fleas
adults living on the animal feed and produce eggs that drop to the ground along with flea dirt in source spots -> larvae and pupae in favorable environment -> pupae give rise to more adults
what are the 3 conditions for good flea source spots
1) dog or cat spends considerable time
2) lots of flea dirt
3) little or no human or animal traffic
in a typical cat flea colony, what lifestage contributes the largest percentage to the total population/colony size
eggs (50%), adults only 5%
what range of problems can flea infestations cause in dogs and cats
ranges from no reaction to flea allergy dermatitis (highly allergic, pruritic, dermatitis)
what is flea allergy dermatitis responding to
salivary secretions
what are some ways to diagnose flea infestations
1) observe flea dirt using a water test
2) clinical signs of scratching, licking, chewing
3) directly observing flea dirt or fleas
how can we treat flea infestations
- change the environment: dehumidify, vacuuming, cleaning of source spots
- apply insecticides
what are the main types of insecticides for treating fleas
- insect growth regulators
- quick knock down insecticides
- insecticides with residual activity
- adulticides
what is the difference between larvacides and adulticides for treating fleas
larvacides contain growth inhibitors or chitin inhibitors to prevent growth of larvae and pupae but will not kill existing adults
what is the life cycle of arachnida -> ticks and mites? is this simple or complex metamorphosis?
egg -> larvae -> nymph -> adult
simple metamorphosis
how can we tell apart the larvae vs nymph vs adult ticks and mites
larvae: 6 legs
nymph: 8 legs, no sex organs)
adults: 8 legs, sex organs
what do ticks look like?
compact, leathery body, have a capitulum with an armed hypostome
how do we tell apart ticks from mites
ticks are approx 10x larger than mites and ticks have an armed hypostome whereas mites have an unarmed hypostome
what are the parts of the capitulum
basis capitulum, palps, hypostome
soft ticks come from the family __________________ whereas hard ticks come from the family ____________
Argasidae, Ixodidae
what are the differences between hard ticks and soft ticks (3)
hard ticks have a scutum whereas soft ticks do not
the capitulum on hard ticks is terminal and anterior whereas it is ventral and subterminal on soft ticks
feeding takes several days in hard ticks vs minutes to hours in soft ticks
