75-609: Meropeidae is a family of tiny scorpionflies within the order Mecoptera with only three known living species, commonly referred to as " earwigflies " (or sometimes " forcepflies "), based on the earwig-like forceps-shaped male genitalia . The living species are the North American Merope tuber , the Western Australian Austromerope poultoni , and the recently discovered South American A. brasiliensis . The biology of these species
150-619: A "professor" accompanied their performance with a rapid circus patter. Oriental rat fleas , Xenopsylla cheopis , can carry the coccobacillus Yersinia pestis . The infected fleas feed on rodent vectors of this bacterium, such as the black rat , Rattus rattus , and then infect human populations with the plague , as has happened repeatedly from ancient times, as in the Plague of Justinian in 541–542. Outbreaks killed up to 200 million people across Europe between 1346 and 1671. The Black Death pandemic between 1346 and 1353 likely killed over
225-404: A 1.8 m (6 ft) adult human jumping 110 m (361 ft) vertically and 200 m (656 ft) horizontally. Rarely do fleas jump from dog to dog. Most flea infestations come from newly developed fleas from the pet's environment. The flea jump is so rapid and forceful that it exceeds the capabilities of muscle, and instead of relying on direct muscle power, fleas store muscle energy in
300-432: A feat second only to jumps made by another group of insects, the superfamily of froghoppers . Flea larvae are worm-like, with no limbs; they have chewing mouthparts and feed on organic debris left on their hosts' skin. Genetic evidence indicates that fleas are a specialised lineage of parasitic scorpionflies (Mecoptera) sensu lato , most closely related to the family Nannochoristidae . The earliest known fleas lived in
375-487: A female's lifetime (fecundity) varies from around one hundred to several thousand. In some species, the flea lives in the host's nest or burrow and the eggs are deposited on the substrate, but in others, the eggs are laid on the host itself and can easily fall off onto the ground. Because of this, areas where the host rests and sleeps become one of the primary habitats of eggs and developing larvae. The eggs take around two days to two weeks to hatch. Flea larvae emerge from
450-414: A female. Hangingflies (Bittacidae) provide a nuptial meal in the form of a captured insect prey, such as a caterpillar, bug, or fly. The male attracts a female with a pheromone from vesicles on his abdomen; he retracts these once a female is nearby, and presents her with the prey. While she evaluates the gift, he locates her genitalia with his. If she stays to eat the prey, his genitalia attach to hers, and
525-505: A few areas, some species are the first insects to arrive at a cadaver , making them useful in forensic entomology . Mecopterans vary in length from 2 to 35 mm (0.1 to 1.4 in). There are about six hundred extant species known, divided into thirty-four genera in nine families. The majority of the species are contained in the families Panorpidae and Bittacidae . Besides this there are about four hundred known fossil species in about eighty-seven genera, which are more diverse than
600-458: A flea under the microscope in his pioneering book Micrographia published in 1665, poems by Donne and Jonathan Swift , works of music by Giorgio Federico Ghedini and Modest Mussorgsky , a play by Georges Feydeau , a film by Charlie Chaplin , and paintings by artists such as Giuseppe Crespi , Giovanni Battista Piazzetta , and Georges de La Tour . John Donne's erotic metaphysical poem " The Flea ", published in 1633 after his death, uses
675-613: A large collection of fleas now in the Rothschild Collection at the Natural History Museum, London . He discovered and named the plague vector flea, Xenopsylla cheopis , also known as the oriental rat flea, in 1903. Using what was probably the world's most complete collection of fleas of about 260,000 specimens (representing some 73% of the 2,587 species and subspecies so far described), he described around 500 species and subspecies of Siphonaptera. He
750-554: A long labium , long mandibles and fleshy palps , which resemble those of the more primitive true flies . Like many other insects, they possess compound eyes on the sides of their heads, and three ocelli on the top. The antennae are filiform (thread-shaped) and contain multiple segments. The fore and hind wings are similar in shape, being long and narrow, with numerous cross-veins, and somewhat resembling those of primitive insects such as mayflies . A few genera, however, have reduced wings, or have lost them altogether. The abdomen
825-405: A pad of the elastic protein named resilin before releasing it rapidly (like a human using a bow and arrow). Immediately before the jump, muscles contract and deform the resilin pad, slowly storing energy which can then be released extremely rapidly to power leg extension for propulsion. To prevent premature release of energy or motions of the leg, the flea employs a "catch mechanism". Early in
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#1732776532090900-401: A range of hosts, only parasitise species with low immune responses. In general, host specificity decreases as the size of the host species decreases. Another factor is the opportunities available to the flea to change host species; this is smaller in colonially nesting birds, where the flea may never encounter another species, than it is in solitary nesting birds. A large, long-lived host provides
975-468: A refractory period during which the female does not mate with other males: all of these increase the number of offspring the male is likely to have. The female lays the eggs in close contact with moisture, and the eggs typically absorb water and increase in size after deposition. In species that live in hot conditions, the eggs may not hatch for several months, the larvae only emerging when the dry season has finished. More typically, however, they hatch after
1050-505: A relatively short period of time. The larvae are usually quite caterpillar -like, with short, clawed, true legs, and a number of abdominal prolegs . They have sclerotised heads with mandibulate mouthparts. Larvae possess compound eyes, which is unique among holometabolous insects. The tenth abdominal segment bears either a suction disc, or, less commonly, a pair of hooks. They generally eat vegetation or scavenge for dead insects, although some predatory larvae are known. The larva crawls into
1125-452: A result of frequent scratching and biting by the animal. They can also cause anemia in extreme cases. Fleas are vectors for viral , bacterial and rickettsial diseases of humans and other animals, as well as of protozoan and helminth parasites. Bacterial diseases carried by fleas include murine or endemic typhus and bubonic plague . Fleas can transmit Rickettsia typhi , Rickettsia felis , Bartonella henselae , and
1200-555: A similar sperm pump organisation. Relationships of Siphonaptera per Tihelka et al. 2020. Diptera (true flies) [REDACTED] Boreidae (snow scorpionflies, 30 spp.) [REDACTED] Nannochoristidae (southern scorpionflies, 8 spp.) Siphonaptera (fleas, 2500 spp.) [REDACTED] Pistillifera (scorpionflies, hangingflies, 400 spp .) [REDACTED] Fleas likely descended from scorpionflies , insects that are predators or scavengers. Fossils of large, wingless stem-group fleas with siphonate (sucking) mouthparts from
1275-613: A single host group; these include the Malacopsyllidae ( armadillos ), Ischnopsyllidae ( bats ) and Chimaeropsyllidae ( elephant shrews ). Many of the known species are little studied. Some 600 species (a quarter of the total) are known from single records. Over 94% of species are associated with mammalian hosts, and only about 3% of species can be considered to be specific parasites of birds . The fleas on birds are thought to have originated from mammalian fleas; at least sixteen separate groups of fleas switched to avian hosts during
1350-408: A sizeable fraction of the world's people. Fleas appear in human culture in such diverse forms as flea circuses ; poems, such as John Donne 's erotic " The Flea "; works of music, such as those by Modest Mussorgsky ; and a film by Charlie Chaplin . Fleas are wingless insects, 1.5 to 3.3 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 16 to 1 ⁄ 8 inch) long, that are agile, usually dark colored (for example,
1425-534: A source of annoyance, however. Flea bites cause a slightly raised, swollen, irritating nodule to form on the epidermis at the site of each bite, with a single puncture point at the centre, like a mosquito bite. This can lead to an eczematous itchy skin disease called flea allergy dermatitis , which is common in many host species, including dogs and cats. The bites often appear in clusters or lines of two bites, and can remain itchy and inflamed for up to several weeks afterwards. Fleas can lead to secondary hair loss as
1500-512: A stable environment that favours host-specific parasites. Although there are species named dog fleas ( Ctenocephalides canis Curtis, 1826) and cat fleas ( Ctenocephalides felis ), fleas are not always strictly species-specific. A study in Virginia examined 244 fleas from 29 dogs: all were cat fleas. Dog fleas had not been found in Virginia in more than 70 years, and may not even occur in
1575-569: A third of the population of Europe. Because fleas carry plague, they have seen service as a biological weapon . During World War II , the Japanese army dropped fleas infested with Y. pestis in China. The bubonic and septicaemic plagues are the most probable form of the plague that would spread as a result of a bioterrorism attack that used fleas as a vector. The banker Charles Rothschild devoted much of his time to entomology , creating
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#17327765320901650-461: A wide variety of warm-blooded vertebrates including dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, rats, mice, birds, and sometimes humans. Fleas normally specialise in one host species or group of species, but can often feed but not reproduce on other species. Ceratophyllus gallinae affects poultry as well as wild birds. As well as the degree of relatedness of a potential host to the flea's original host, it has been shown that avian fleas that exploit
1725-399: A year and a half. Completely developed adult fleas can live for several months without eating, so long as they do not emerge from their puparia . Optimum temperatures for the flea's life cycle are 21 to 30 °C (70 to 86 °F) and optimum humidity is 70%. Adult female rabbit fleas, Spilopsyllus cuniculi , can detect the changing levels of cortisol and corticosterone hormones in
1800-460: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mecoptera Mecoptera (from the Greek : mecos = "long", ptera = "wings") is an order of insects in the superorder Holometabola with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae , in which the males have enlarged genitals raised over
1875-473: Is a relatively small order of insects: members of the order undergo complete metamorphosis and are secondarily wingless (their ancestors had wings which modern forms have lost). In 2005, Medvedev listed 2005 species in 242 genera, and despite subsequent descriptions of new species, bringing the total up to around 2500 species, this is the most complete database available. The order is divided into four infraorders and eighteen families. Some families are exclusive to
1950-404: Is cylindrical with eleven segments, the first of which is fused to the metathorax . The cerci consist of one or two segments. The abdomen typically curves upwards in the male, superficially resembling the tail of a scorpion , the tip containing an enlarged structure called the genital bulb. The caterpillar -like larvae have hard sclerotised heads with mandibles (jaws), short true legs on
2025-630: Is essentially unknown, and their larvae have never been seen. The adults have been suggested to probably be saprophagous , though they have never been observed feeding. The fossil record of the group extends back to the Jurassic . The earliest known member is Boreomerope antiqua known from an isolated wing found in the Middle Jurassic Itat Formation of Siberia . Other extinct genera include Burmomerope with three species and Torvimerope with one species are both from
2100-506: Is low, with Trinidad, Taiwan and Japan, where they are found, having had recent land bridges to the nearest continental land masses. The European scorpionfly was named Panorpa communis by Linnaeus in 1758 . The Mecoptera were named by Alpheus Hyatt and Jennie Maria Arms in 1891. The name is from the Greek , mecos meaning long, and ptera meaning wings. The families of Mecoptera are well accepted by taxonomists but their relationships have been debated. In 1987, R. Willman treated
2175-432: Is monophyletic, sister to Siphonaptera: Diptera (true flies) [REDACTED] Pistillifera (scorpionflies, hangingflies, 400 spp .) [REDACTED] Boreidae (snow scorpionflies, 30 spp.) [REDACTED] Nannochoristidae (southern scorpionflies, 8 spp.) [REDACTED] (fleas, 2500 spp.) [REDACTED] All the families were formerly treated as part of a single order, Mecoptera. The relationships between
2250-743: Is that they can sting with their tails. Siphonaptera Aphaniptera Flea , the common name for the order Siphonaptera , includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds . Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about 3 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 8 inch) long, are usually brown, and have bodies that are "flattened" sideways or narrow, enabling them to move through their hosts' fur or feathers. They lack wings; their hind legs are extremely well adapted for jumping. Their claws keep them from being dislodged, and their mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood . Some species can leap 50 times their body length,
2325-819: Is the most basal, and the relationships of the rest are not completely clear. Nannochoristidae Boreidae (snow scorpionflies) [REDACTED] Siphonaptera (fleas) [REDACTED] Eomeropidae (mainly fossil ( Triassic to present), 1 extant sp.) [REDACTED] (?) Bittacidae (hangingflies) Meropeidae (earwigflies) [REDACTED] Choristidae (Australian scorpionflies) [REDACTED] Apteropanorpidae (Tasmanian snow scorpionflies) (?) Bittacidae (hangingflies) [REDACTED] Panorpodidae (short-faced scorpionflies) Panorpidae ( Jurassic to present, common scorpionflies) [REDACTED] Mecoptera are small to medium-sized insects with long beaklike rostra , membranous wings and slender, elongated bodies. They have relatively simple mouthparts, with
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2400-595: The Boreidae (snow scorpionflies) is not supported. A 2020 genetic study recovered Siphonaptera within Mecoptera, with strong support, as the sister group to Nannochoristidae , a small, relictual group of mecopterans native to the Southern Hemisphere. Fleas and nannochoristids share several similarities with each other that are not shared with other mecopterans, including similar mouthparts as well as
2475-640: The Ischnopsyllidae only on bats , and the Chimaeropsyllidae only on elephant shrews . The oriental rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis , is a vector of Yersinia pestis , the bacterium that causes bubonic plague . The disease was spread to humans by rodents, such as the black rat , which were bitten by infected fleas. Major outbreaks included the Plague of Justinian , about 540, and the Black Death , about 1350, each of which killed
2550-954: The Permochoristidae , to the Middle Triassic . During the Late Triassic through the Middle Jurassic , Aneuretopsychina species were gradually replaced by species from the Parachoristidae and Orthophlebiidae. Modern mecopteran families are derived from the Orthophlebiidae. Mecoptera have special importance in the evolution of the insects. Two of the most important insect orders, Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Diptera (true flies), along with Trichoptera (caddisflies), probably evolved from ancestors belonging to, or strictly related to,
2625-958: The Siphonaptera (fleas) are inside that clade, so that the traditional "Mecoptera" taxon is paraphyletic. However the earlier suggestion that the Siphonaptera are sister to the Boreidae is not supported; instead, there is the possibility that they are sister to another Mecopteran family, the Nannochoristidae . The two possible trees are shown below: (a) Mecoptera (clades in boldface) is paraphyletic, containing Siphonaptera: Diptera (true flies) [REDACTED] Pistillifera (scorpionflies, hangingflies, 400 spp .) [REDACTED] Boreidae (snow scorpionflies, 30 spp.) [REDACTED] Nannochoristidae (southern scorpionflies, 8 spp.) [REDACTED] Siphonaptera (fleas, 2500 spp.) [REDACTED] (b) Mecoptera
2700-489: The cat flea , vector of bubonic plague ) [REDACTED] Ceratophyllomorpha (inc. the Ceratophyllidae , such as the widespread moorhen flea ) [REDACTED] As of 2023 , there are 21 recognized families within the order Siphonaptera, 3 of which are extinct. In addition, some researchers have suggested that the subfamily Stenoponiinae should be elevated to its own family ( Stenoponiidae ). Fleas feed on
2775-901: The conceit of a flea, which has sucked blood from the male speaker and his female lover, as an extended metaphor for their sexual relationship. The speaker tries to convince a lady to sleep with him, arguing that if the mingling of their blood in the flea is innocent, then sex would be also. The comic poem Siphonaptera was written in 1915 by the mathematician Augustus De Morgan , It describes an infinite chain of parasitism made of ever larger and ever smaller fleas. Flea circuses provided entertainment to nineteenth century audiences. These circuses, extremely popular in Europe from 1830 onwards, featured fleas dressed as humans or towing miniature carts, chariots , rollers or cannon . These devices were originally made by watchmakers or jewellers to show off their skill at miniaturization. A ringmaster called
2850-473: The myxomatosis virus. They can carry Hymenolepiasis tapeworms and Trypanosome protozoans. The chigoe flea or jigger ( Tunga penetrans ) causes the disease tungiasis , a major public health problem around the world. Fleas that specialize as parasites on specific mammals may use other mammals as hosts; thus, humans may be bitten by cat and dog fleas. Fleas have appeared in poetry, literature, music and art; these include Robert Hooke 's drawing of
2925-855: The Mecoptera as a clade , containing the Boreidae as sister to the Meropeidae, but in 2002 Michael F. Whiting declared the Mecoptera so-defined as paraphyletic, with the Boreidae as sister to another order, the Siphonaptera (fleas). Among the earliest members of the Mecoptera are the Nannochoristidae of Upper Permian age. Fossil Mecoptera become abundant and diverse during the Cretaceous , for example in China, where panorpids such as Jurassipanorpa , hangingflies (Bittacidae and Cimbrophlebiidae), Orthophlebiidae, and Cimbrophlebiidae have been found. Extinct Mecoptera species may have been important pollinators of early gymnosperm seed plants during
3000-454: The Mecoptera. Evidence includes anatomical and biochemical similarities as well as transitional fossils , such as Permotanyderus and Choristotanyderus , which lie between the Mecoptera and Diptera. The group was once much more widespread and diverse than it is now, with four suborders during the Mesozoic . It is unclear as of 2020 whether the Mecoptera form a single clade, or whether
3075-776: The Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous have been found in northeastern China and Russia, belonging to the families Saurophthiridae and Pseudopulicidae , as well as Tarwinia from the Early Cretaceous of Australia. Most flea families formed after the end of the Cretaceous (in the Paleogene and onwards). Modern fleas probably arose in the southern continental area of Gondwana , and migrated rapidly northwards from there. They most likely evolved with mammal hosts, only later moving to birds . Siphonaptera
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3150-479: The Middle Jurassic ; modern-looking forms appeared in the Cenozoic . Fleas probably originated on mammals first and expanded their reach to birds. Each species of flea specializes, more or less, on one species of host: many species of flea never breed on any other host; some are less selective. Some families of fleas are exclusive to a single host group; for example, the Malacopsyllidae are found only on armadillos ,
3225-645: The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus first classified insects, doing so on the basis of their wing structure. One of the seven orders into which he divided them was "Aptera", meaning wingless, a group in which as well as fleas, he included spiders , woodlice and myriapods . It wasn't until 1810 that the French zoologist Pierre André Latreille reclassified the insects on the basis of their mouthparts as well as their wings, splitting Aptera into Thysanura (silverfish), Anoplura (sucking lice) and Siphonaptera (fleas), at
3300-472: The US, so a flea found on a dog is likely a cat flea ( Ctenocephalides felis ). One theory of human hairlessness is that the loss of hair helped humans to reduce their burden of fleas and other ectoparasites. In many species, fleas are principally a nuisance to their hosts, causing an itching sensation which in turn causes the host to try to remove the pest by biting, pecking or scratching. Fleas are not simply
3375-507: The adult form. This can take just four days, but may take much longer under adverse conditions, and there follows a variable-length stage during which the pre-emergent adult awaits a suitable opportunity to emerge. Trigger factors for emergence include vibrations (including sound), heat (in warm-blooded hosts), and increased levels of carbon dioxide , all of which may indicate the presence of a suitable host. Large numbers of pre-emergent fleas may be present in otherwise flea-free environments, and
3450-498: The basic structure shown in the cladogram. The Hectopsyllidae , including the harmful chigoe flea or jigger , is sister to the rest of the Siphonaptera. Hectopsyllidae (inc. jigger ) [REDACTED] Pygiopsyllomorpha Macropsyllidae , Coptopsyllidae Neotyphloceratini , Ctenophthalmini , Doratopsyllinae Stephanocircidae [REDACTED] clade inc. Rhopalopsyllidae , Ctenophthalmidae , Hystrichopsyllidae [REDACTED] Chimaeropsyllidae Pulicidae (inc.
3525-427: The body that look similar to the stingers of scorpions , and long beaklike rostra . The Bittacidae , or hangingflies, are another prominent family and are known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered to them by the males. A smaller group is the snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae , adults of which are sometimes seen walking on snowfields. In contrast,
3600-567: The clade Aneuretopsychina . Their lengths range from 3 mm (0.12 in) in Parapolycentropus burmiticus to 28 mm (1.1 in) in Lichnomesopsyche gloriae . The proboscis could be as long as 10 mm (0.39 in). It has been suggested that these mecopterans transferred pollen on their mouthparts and head surfaces, as do bee flies and hoverflies today, but no such associated pollen has been found, even when
3675-421: The diet included nonviable eggs. They are blind and avoid sunlight, keeping to dark, humid places such as sand or soil, cracks and crevices, under carpets and in bedding. The entire larval stage lasts between four and 18 days. Given an adequate supply of food, larvae pupate and weave silken cocoons after three larval stages. Within the cocoon, the larva molts for a final time and undergoes metamorphosis into
3750-467: The dissolution of the testicular plug in males, and copulation soon follows. Some species breed all year round while others synchronise their activities with their hosts' life cycles or with local environmental factors and climatic conditions. Flea populations consist of roughly 50% eggs, 35% larvae, 10% pupae, and 5% adults. The number of eggs laid depends on species, with batch sizes ranging from two to several dozen. The total number of eggs produced in
3825-470: The eggs may not hatch until the wet season arrives. The larvae are caterpillar-like and mostly feed on vegetable matter, and the non-feeding pupae may pass through a diapause until weather conditions are favorable. Early Mecoptera may have played an important role in pollinating extinct species of gymnosperms before the evolution of other insect pollinators such as bees. Adults of modern species are overwhelmingly predators or consumers of dead organisms. In
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#17327765320903900-416: The eggs to feed on any available organic material such as dead insects, faeces, conspecific eggs, and vegetable matter. In laboratory studies, some dietary diversity seems necessary for proper larval development. Blood-only diets allow only 12% of larvae to mature, whereas blood and yeast or dog chow diets allow almost all larvae to mature. Another study also showed that 90% of larvae matured into adults when
3975-412: The evolutionary history of the Siphonaptera. Occurrences of fleas on reptiles is accidental, and fleas have been known to feed on the hemolymph (bloodlike body fluid) of ticks . Flea phylogeny was long neglected, the discovery of homologies with the parts of other insects being made difficult by their extreme specialization. Whiting and colleagues prepared a detailed molecular phylogeny in 2008, with
4050-581: The families are, however, a matter of debate. The cladogram, from Cracraft and Donoghue 2004, places the Nannochoristidae as a separate order, with the Boreidae, as the sister group to the Siphonaptera, also as its own order. The Eomeropidae is suggested to be the sister group to the rest of the Mecoptera, with the position of the Bittacidae unclear. Of those other families, the Meropeidae
4125-437: The family Panorpidae occurs, such as the eastern United States, these scorpionflies can be the first insects to arrive at a donated human cadaver, and remain on a corpse for one or two days. The presence of scorpionflies thus indicates that a body must be fresh. Scorpionflies are sometimes described as looking "sinister", particularly from the male's raised "tail" resembling a scorpion 's sting. A popular but incorrect belief
4200-749: The family are thought to be Eomeropidae , another relictual family of mecopterans with only 1 living species whose fossil record also extends back to the Jurassic. The family name was spelt "Meropidae" in old literature but this clashes with the homonymous family name in birds for bee-eaters . The spelling of Meropeidae was adopted for the insect family by the ICZN in Opinion 140 of 1943. Phylogeny after Zhang et al. 2023: † Boreomerope † Torvimerope † Burmomerope Merope tuber Austromerope This Mecoptera related article
4275-475: The feces of mature fleas, which contain dried blood. Adults feed only on fresh blood. Their legs are long, the hind pair well adapted for jumping; a flea can jump vertically up to 18 centimetres (7 inches) and horizontally up to 33 cm (13 in), making the flea one of the best jumpers of all known animals (relative to body size), second only to the froghopper . A flea can jump 60 times its length in height and 110 times its length in distance, equivalent to
4350-404: The female lowers herself into an upside-down hanging position, and eats the prey while mating. Larger prey result in longer mating times. In Hylobittacus apicalis , prey 3 to 14 millimetres (0.12 to 0.55 in) long give between 1 and 17 minutes of mating. Larger males of that species give prey as big as houseflies, earning up to 29 minutes of mating, maximal sperm transfer, more oviposition, and
4425-568: The hairs or feathers on the host's body. The flea body is covered with hard plates called sclerites. These sclerites are covered with many hairs and short spines directed backward, which also assist its movements on the host. The tough body is able to withstand great pressure, likely an adaptation to survive attempts to eliminate them by scratching. Fleas lay tiny, white, oval eggs. The larvae are small and pale, have bristles covering their worm-like bodies, lack eyes, and have mouth parts adapted to chewing. The larvae feed on organic matter, especially
4500-533: The insects were finely preserved in Eocene Baltic amber . They likely pollinated plants such as Caytoniaceae , Cheirolepidiaceae , and Gnetales , which have ovulate organs that are either poorly suited for wind pollination or have structures that could support long-proboscid fluid feeding. The Aneuretopsychina were the most diverse group of mecopterans in the Latest Permian, taking the place of
4575-500: The introduction of a suitable host may trigger a mass emergence. Once the flea reaches adulthood, its primary goal is to find blood and then to reproduce. Female fleas can lay 5000 or more eggs over their life, permitting rapid increase in numbers. Generally speaking, an adult flea only lives for 2 or 3 months. Without a host to provide a blood meal, a flea's life can be as short as a few days. Under ideal conditions of temperature, food supply, and humidity, adult fleas can live for up to
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#17327765320904650-441: The jump, the tendon of the primary jumping muscle passes slightly behind the coxa-trochanter joint, generating a torque which holds the joint closed with the leg close to the body. To trigger jumping, another muscle pulls the tendon forward until it passes the joint axis, generating the opposite torque to extend the leg and power the jump by release of stored energy. The actual take off has been shown by high-speed video to be from
4725-424: The larvae being able to jump like fleas . Hangingflies, family Bittacidae, occur in forests, grassland and caves with high moisture levels. They mostly breed among mosses, in leaf litter and other moist places, but their reproductive habits have been little studied, and at least one species, Nannochorista philpotti , has aquatic larvae. Adult mecopterans are mostly scavengers , feeding on decaying vegetation and
4800-538: The late Middle Jurassic to mid– Early Cretaceous periods before other pollinating groups such as the bees evolved. These were mainly wind-pollinated plants, but fossil mecopterans had siphon-feeding apparatus that could have fertilized these early gymnosperms by feeding on their nectar and pollen . The lack of iron enrichment in their fossilized probosces rules out their use for drinking blood. Eleven species have been identified from three families, Mesopsychidae , Aneuretopsychidae , and Pseudopolycentropodidae within
4875-702: The living members of the order. The group is sometimes called the scorpionflies, from the turned-up "tail" of the male's genitalia in the Panorpidae. Distribution of mecopterans is worldwide; the greatest diversity at the species level is in the Afrotropic and Palearctic realms , but there is greater diversity at the generic and family level in the Neotropic , Nearctic and Australasian realms . They are absent from Madagascar and many islands and island groups; this may demonstrate that their dispersal ability
4950-466: The majority of species in the order inhabit moist environments in tropical locations. The Mecoptera are closely related to the Siphonaptera (fleas), and a little more distantly to the Diptera (true flies). They are somewhat fly-like in appearance, being small to medium-sized insects with long slender bodies and narrow membranous wings. Most breed in moist environments such as leaf litter or moss, and
5025-618: The mid Cretaceous ( Cenomanian ) aged Burmese amber . As such, the extant members of this family can be considered living fossils . These insects are also of interest due to their presumed basal position in the order Mecoptera. Thaumatomerope with four described species all from the Madygen Formation in Kyrgyzstan has historically sometimes been included within the family, it was placed into its own monotypic family, "Thaumatomeropidae." in 2002. The closest relatives of
5100-436: The rabbit's blood that indicate it is getting close to giving birth. This triggers sexual maturity in the fleas and they start producing eggs. As soon as the baby rabbits are born, the fleas make their way down to them and once on board they start feeding, mating, and laying eggs. After 12 days, the adult fleas make their way back to the mother. They complete this mini-migration every time she gives birth. Between 1735 and 1758,
5175-466: The reddish-brown of the cat flea ), with a proboscis , or stylet, adapted to feeding by piercing the skin and sucking their host's blood through their epipharynx. Flea legs end in strong claws that are adapted to grasp a host. Unlike other insects, fleas do not possess compound eyes but instead only have simple eyespots with a single biconvex lens; some species lack eyes altogether. Their bodies are laterally compressed, permitting easy movement through
5250-536: The same time separating off the arachnids and crustaceans into their own subphyla. The group's name, Siphonaptera, is zoological Latin from the Greek siphon (a tube) and aptera (wingless). It was historically unclear whether the Siphonaptera are sister to the Mecoptera (scorpionflies and allies), or are inside that clade, making "Mecoptera" paraphyletic. The earlier suggestion that the Siphonaptera are sister to
5325-431: The soft bodies of dead invertebrates. Panorpa raid spider webs to feed on trapped insects and even the spiders themselves, and hangingflies capture flies and moths with their specially modified legs. Some groups consume pollen , nectar , midge larvae, carrion and moss fragments. Most mecopterans live in moist environments; in hotter climates, the adults may therefore be active and visible only for short periods of
5400-445: The soil or decaying wood to pupate , and does not spin a cocoon. The pupae are exarate , meaning the limbs are free of the body, and are able to move their mandibles, but are otherwise entirely nonmotile. In drier environments, they may spend several months in diapause , before emerging as adults once the conditions are more suitable. Forensic entomology makes use of scorpionflies' habit of feeding on human corpses . In areas where
5475-533: The thorax, prolegs on the first eight abdominal segments, and a suction disc or pair of hooks on the terminal tenth segment. The pupae have free appendages rather than being secured within a cocoon (they are exarate). Mecopterans mostly inhabit moist environments although a few species are found in semi-desert habitats. Scorpionflies, family Panorpidae, generally live in broad-leaf woodlands with plentiful damp leaf litter. Snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae, appear in winter and are to be seen on snowfields and on moss;
5550-423: The tibiae and tarsi rather than from the trochantera (knees). Fleas are holometabolous insects, going through the four lifecycle stages of egg , larva , pupa , and imago (adult). In most species, neither female nor male fleas are fully mature when they first emerge but must feed on blood before they become capable of reproduction. The first blood meal triggers the maturation of the ovaries in females and
5625-429: The year. Various courtship behaviours have been observed among mecopterans, with males often emitting pheromones to attract mates. The male may provide an edible gift such as a dead insect or a brown salivary secretion to the female. Some boreids have hook-like wings which the male uses to pick up and place the female on his back while copulating. Male panorpids vibrate their wings or even stridulate while approaching
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