SIPHONAPTERA, FLEAS, PARASY
Résumé
The order Siphonaptera includes approximately 246 genera and about 2600 species of fleas distributed across the world (Whiting et al. 2008). They have been studied from a medical point of view, mainly as vectors of plague, as well as from a zoological perspective to analyze the relationships between ectoparasites and their hosts. Fleas are holometabolous (complete transformation during metamorphosis), wingless insects, adapted to jump, and adults of both sexes are hematophagous (blood-feeding). The female lays eggs on the ground or on the host, where the detritiphagous larvae develop, feeding on detritus from host fur or feathers or on dried fecal...