FLEAS(Cat and Dog)

By: Sarah Robinson

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