Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Brief descriptive ecology: what do fleas do?
- Part II Functional ecology: how do fleas do what they do?
- 7 Ecology of sexual dimorphism, gender differences and sex ratio
- 8 Ecology of flea locomotion
- 9 Ecology of host selection
- 10 Ecology of haematophagy
- 11 Ecology of reproduction and pre-imaginal development
- 12 Ecology of flea virulence
- 13 Ecology of host defence
- Part III Evolutionary ecology: why do fleas do what they do?
- References
- Index
10 - Ecology of haematophagy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Brief descriptive ecology: what do fleas do?
- Part II Functional ecology: how do fleas do what they do?
- 7 Ecology of sexual dimorphism, gender differences and sex ratio
- 8 Ecology of flea locomotion
- 9 Ecology of host selection
- 10 Ecology of haematophagy
- 11 Ecology of reproduction and pre-imaginal development
- 12 Ecology of flea virulence
- 13 Ecology of host defence
- Part III Evolutionary ecology: why do fleas do what they do?
- References
- Index
Summary
Adult fleas are obligatory haematophages. Among arthropods, haematophagy has evolved independently in at least six lineages (Ribeiro, 1995, 1996; Lehane, 2005). Two routes for the evolutionary transition to a parasitic lifestyle have been suggested (Waage, 1979). In the first type, known as type A routes, associations with hosts preceded adaptations for parasitic feeding. This is presumed to be the evolutionary pathway for, among others, psoroptoid acariforms (Fain & Hyland, 1985) and anopluran lice (Kim, 1985a). The second type, known as type F routes, involved adaptations to feeding on a host that preceded the actual association, such as the stylet-like mouthparts of mosquitoes feeding on nectar and hemipterans feeding on plants that can be easily adapted to haematophagy (Radovsky, 1985). In some taxa, evolution of parasitism could be a combination of the two pathways (e.g. dermanyssoid mites: Dowling, 2006). It has been suggested that Siphonaptera might have evolved from free-living mecopteran ancestors mainly along the type F route (Tillyard, 1935; Hinton, 1958, Whiting, 2002a, b; but see Medvedev, 2005 and Chapter 4). In this chapter, the ecology of blood-sucking in fleas is discussed. First, I consider the morphology of flea mouthparts and, based on empirical, albeit extremely scarce, evidence, attempt to find a correlation between their size/shape and the morphology of host skin. Then, I discuss how host-, flea- and environment-related factors can affect the feeding success of a flea.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of FleasA Model for Ecological Parasitology, pp. 154 - 181Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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