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flea

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flea

1. any small wingless parasitic blood-sucking insect of the order Siphonaptera, living on the skin of mammals and birds and noted for its power of leaping
2. any of various invertebrates that resemble fleas, such as the water flea and flea beetle
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

flea

[flē]
(invertebrate zoology)
Any of the wingless insects composing the order Siphonaptera; most are ectoparasites of mammals and birds.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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References in periodicals archive
Department Province/ District Host (Number) Species cat (10) Ctenocephalides felis Cajamarca/ cat (2) Ctenocephalides canis San Ignacio/ dog (45) Ctenocephalides felis San Ignacio dog (6) Pulex irritans (Marizagua) guinea pig (1) Pulex irritans guinea pig (1) Ctenocephalides felis Amazonas/ dog (8) Ctenocephalides felis Utcubamba/ dog (1) Pulex irritans Cajaruro dog (3) Ctenocephalides felis Amazonas/ dog (1) Rhiphicephalus sanguineus Utcubamba/ dog (1) Boophilus spp.
Four species of fleas were observed: Pulex irritans, P.
(%) outside Pulex irritans 233 (73.0) 233 (95.5) 0 Ctenocephalides canis 1 (03) 1 (0.4) 0 Echidnophaga gallinacea 10 (3.1) 10 (4.1) 0 Synopsyllus fonquerniei 62 (19.4) 0 62 (82.7) Xenopsylla cheopis 13 (4.1) 0 13 (17.3) Total 319 (100) 244 (100) 75 (100)
A minority of these genera live in close association with humans (synanthropic), including fleas of these species: Pulex irritans, Ctenocephalides felis, Ctenocephalides canis, Xenopsylla cheopis, Nosopsyllus fasciatus, Echidnophaga gallinacea, and Tunga penetrans (1).
When the groEL partial sequence FJ545656 from the red fox from France was compared with sequence DQ522300 from a Pulex irritans flea collected from foxes from Hungary, the 156-bp fragment (based on the consensus sequence from both directions) from the red fox from France was 100% identical to that of the flea.
henselae from fleas (Pulex irritans and Ctenocephalides felis) collected in Chile and dis cuss the role of these fleas as possible vectors of infection.
Off-host Pulex irritans, Tunga penetrans, Ctenocephalides felis strongylus, Echidnophaga gallinacea, and Xenopsylla brasiliensis were collected in the Ituri district of northeastern DRC from March through April 2007, during an investigation of a plague outbreak.
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