1. We studied the effect of host abundance on parasite abundance and prevalence using data on 57 associations of fleas (Siphonaptera) and their mammalian hosts from Slovakia. 2. We assumed that flea-induced host mortality could be inferred from the relationship between flea aggregation and flea abundance, whereas host-induced flea mortality could be inferred from the relationship between flea a...

BACKGROUND From 1990 to 2006, fifty-five natural villages experienced at least one plague epidemic in Lianghe County, Yunnan Province, China. This study is aimed to document flea abundance and identify predictors in households of villages with endemic commensal rodent plague in Lianghe County. METHODS Trappings were used to collect fleas and interviews were conducted to gather demography, env...

Three flea beetle species (Aphthona spp.), first introduced into North America in 1988, have come to be regarded as effective biological control organisms for leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula). The black flea beetles (Aphthona lacertosa and A. czwalinae) in particular have been shown to cause reductions in leafy spurge stem counts in the northern Great Plains, while the brown flea beetle (A. nigri...

Yersinia pestis, the agent of plague, is usually transmitted by fleas. To produce a transmissible infection, Y. pestis colonizes the flea midgut and forms a biofilm in the proventricular valve, which blocks normal blood feeding. The enteropathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, from which Y. pestis recently evolved, is not transmitted by fleas. However, both Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis fo...

Aim We studied the relationships between the numbers of species and numbers of higher taxa (genera, tribes, subfamilies and families) in flea assemblages of small mammalian hosts with the aims of: (a) comparing these relationships across different regions, and (b) testing the hypothesis that flea assemblages in warmer regions diversify mainly via intrahost speciation, whereas those in colder re...

The abundance of a given species in a community is likely to depend on both the total abundance and diversity of other species making up that community. A large number of co-occurring individuals or co-occurring species may decrease the abundance of any given species via diffuse competition; however, indirect interactions among many cooccurring species can have positive effects on a focal speci...

Bio-inspired compound feet with spines and foot pads were made to improve the take off performance of the Flea, a jumping robot that can jump 30 times its body length. A no-slip model of the flea was used to compare the performance of the flea with and without spines and foot pads on styrofoam, sandpaper 60Cw, and Teflon. On styrofoam, the flea with spines increased its kinetic energy by 65%, b...

We investigated variation in the abundance-prevalence relationships of fleas among 17 different flea-host associations as well as among different species of hosts and fleas in the Negev desert. We explored variation in the value of exponent of Taylor's power relationship with changes in flea community size and flea specialization (host specificity and seasonal pattern of activity). We tested if...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Arthropod-borne pathogens are transmitted into a unique intradermal microenvironment that includes the saliva of their vectors. Immunomodulatory factors in the saliva can enhance infectivity; however, in some cases the immune response that develops to saliva from prior uninfected bites can inhibit infectivity. Most rodent reservoirs of Yersinia pestis experience fleabites regula...

Aim We searched for signs of the ‘bottom-up’ diversity effect in the association between fleas (Siphonaptera) and their small mammalian hosts (Rodentia, Insectivora and Lagomorpha). We asked (1) whether a strong dependence of flea species richness on host species richness is characteristic for both Palaeoarctic and Nearctic realms; (2) if yes, whether the ratio of host species per flea species ...