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Figure 5.2 Seasonal changes in Nosopsyllus iranus parasitic on Wagner's gerbil Dipodillus dasyurus in the Negev Desert, a Prevalence solid line, squares and intensity dashed line, triangles of infestation b monthly percentage of fleas ranked as being at early, middle and late stages of blood digestion c monthly percentage of fleas ranked as having low, medium and high fat stores and d monthly percentage of females ranked as immature, nulliparous and parous. Redrawn after Krasnov et al. 2002c...
Ecology of flea locomotion
The locomotory patterns of fleas reflect their way of life as parasites of fur- or feather-covered hosts. Fleas are able to move through dense host pelage and withstand the host's anti-parasitic grooming. They also are able to jump, to move through the substrate of a host's burrow or nest and to move on vertical surfaces e.g. fleas parasitic on bats . Here, I briefly review the morphological and physiological aspects of flea locomotory features that facilitate the successful exploitation of...
Ecology of sexual dimorphism gender differences and sex ratio
Males and females play complementary yet distinctly different evolutionary roles. They may differ in size and or shape, behaviour and response to environmental factors. As a result, the abundance of males and females in a population may be unequal. This inequality in numbers may have important ecological and evolutionary consequences. This chapter starts with the description of differences in size, behaviour and physiology between male and female fleas. I attempt to understand how these...