The rabbit flea - Spilopsyllus cuniculi
The rabbit flea - Spilopsyllus cuniculi is naturally found on wild rabbits and hares, rarely on canids or felids and can also be found on pet rabbits. It has a worldwide distribution and is considered a pest flea as it is a carrier of myxomatosis virus and other pathogens.
The rabbit flea usually congregates around the ears, and thus may cause much irritation and tissue damage. Moreover, it transmits Trypanosoma nabiasi and myxomatosis virus. It is also known to bite hunters and hikers.
Males as well as females feed repeatedly on blood, but both sexes may survive for various periods without the host. Spilopsyllus cuniculi can live for nine months at temperatures around the freezing point without feeding. Females are about 1 mm long.
Rabbit fleas do not mate while on adult rabbits; copulation is usually initiated when the fleas are on the body of a new-born rabbit and at least the close proximity of such a nestling is essential. Fleas with mature ovaries mate much more readily than immature fleas.
The ovaries of fleas kept on male or non-pregnant female rabbits remain immature whereas those on a pregnant host are mature at the time of parturition. Most fleas desert the adult doe shortly after the young are born and enter her nest, where copulation and oviposition occur. The rabbit flea's ovaries mature only after it has fed on a pregnant rabbit or hare. Eggs of the flea are laid only after it has fed on a new born lagomorph.
Male fleas must be in a suitable ‘physiological state’ before they can mate and inseminate females. This state is reached by probing contact with rabbits in the final stages of pregnancy or, for a relatively shorter period, with new-born rabbits. Spermatozoa of such fleas show much greater mobility within the genital ducts than those from fleas kept on male or non-pregnant rabbits.
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