ENTOMOLOGY-III

Dr. Marina Vaidya Shrestha

Flea
Flea
• Belong to order Siphonaptera.
• Widely distributed all over globe.
• Small,bilaterally compressed ,wingless insects with a
hard exoskeleton and covered with backwardly directed
strong bristles.
Types of Fleas
• Rat fleas(oriental): Xenopsylla cheopis
Xenopsylla astia
• Xenopsylla braziliensis
• Rat fleas(Temperate zone): Nosopsylla fasciatus
• Human fleas: Pulex irritans
• Dog and Cat fleas: Ctenocephalus canis
Ctenocephalus felis
• Sand fleas: Tunga penetrans
• Rat fleas are of greatest importance(vectors of plague
and typhus)
 “sensilium”
=
“pygidium”

“ctenidium” = “comb”, e.g. “genal

comb” = “genal ctenidium”
Habits
• Found on their normal hosts and in the nests, burrows
and layers of their hosts.
• Found in dwellings, ground, cracks and crevices and
under carpet.
• Both sexes bite and suck blood.
• Feed on frequent interval, usually once a day and
sometimes more often.
• Can not fly but jump
• Passively transported by host, transport vehicles ,
humans, movement of goods like grain, cotton, bags etc.
Flea indices
• General flea index: average no.of fleas of all species per
rodent.
• Specific flea index: average no. of fleas of each species
found per rodent.
• Percentage incidence of flea species: percentage of
fleas of each species found per rodent.
• Rodent infestation rate: percentage of rodents infested
with various flea species.
Diseases
• Known to transmit the following diseases:
1. Plague
2. Endemic and Murine Typhus
3. Chigerrosis
4. Hymenolepis diminuta
Mode of transmission
• Biting:(mode of transmission in plague )

ingest plague bacilli and multiply in proventriculus or

stomach (blocked fleas)

Blockage of food passage

Hungry flea bite more ferociously

Injects plague bacilli in wound

• Mechanical :takes from proboscis of the fleas

• Faeces: fleas defecate while feeding.fecal drops may

contain numerous bacilli.When host scratches over flea
bitten area
Control of fleas
• Insecticidal control: Previously DDT (10%), Diazinon
(2%),malathion(5%)
• Sprays should be applied to floors and walls up to ht of 1
feet.
• Insecticidal sprays dust be sprayed to rodents burrows.
• Repellents:Diethyltoluamide is an effective flea repellent.
Benzyl benzoate is also a good repellent.
Rodent control
Sandfly
Sandfly
• Small insect ,light and dark brown in colour.
• Smaller than mosquitoes measuring 1.5 to 2.5 mm
• Species :phlebotomus argentipes ,P.papatasii , P.sergenti
Sergentomypia punjabensis.
General characteristics
• Head,thorax and abdomen.
• Sandflies may be distinguished from mosquitoes by the
following characteristics:
• Size:sandfly are smaller than mosquitoes
• Wings: second longitudinal vein on the wings branches
twice
• Legs: legs are longer compare to body
• Sandfly is hairy insect
• Hopping: Sandfly hop about and do not fly by choice.
Habits
• Nocturnal pets
• Bite is irritating and painful.
• Infest dwelling during night, take shelter during holes ,
trees, dark rooms.
• Females alone bite as they require blood meal every third
or fourth day.
Diseases transmitted
• Kalaazar
• Sandfly fever
• Oriental shore
Control
• Insecticides: DDT/Lindane once in 3 months.
• Sanitation: removal of shurbs and vegetation
• Filling up of cracks, crevices in walls and floors
• Location of cattle sheds and poultry away from human
habitation.
Bugs
• Vectors of Chagas disease
• Large size, wings in adult
• Live in cracks, fissures and other hiding places in walls
• Frequently attack man and bite may cause itching ,
nausea ,flushed face, palpitation.
• Residual spraying with HCH.
Rodents
2 groups:
1.Domestic rodents: black rat, Norway rat, house mouse
2.Wild rodents: Tatera indica,B.indica
Rodents and disease
• Bacterial: plague, tularaemia
• Viral: Lassa fever,haemorrhagic fever, encephalitis
• Rickettsial: scrub typhus ,murine typhus, rickettsial fever
• Parasitic: hymenolepis diminuata, Leismaniasis,
amoebiasis
Mode of transmission
• Directly through rat bite
• Contamination through food and water
Antirodent measures
• Sanitation measure
• Trapping
• Rodenticides: barium carbonate, Zinc Phosphide,
warfarin.