Publikationsdatenbank

Myth or truth:
investigation of the jumping ability of Tunga penetrans (Siphonaptera: Tungidae) (2024)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

Hyuga, Ayako

Ouma, Paul

Matharu, Abneel K. (WE 13)

Krücken, Jürgen (WE 13)

Kaneko, Satoshi

Goto, Kensuke

Fillinger, Ulrike

Quelle

Journal of Medical Entomology : J Med Entomol

Bandzählung: 61

Heftzählung: 1

Seiten: 261 – 265

ISSN: 0022-2585

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37861430/

DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjad143

Pubmed: 37861430

Kontakt

Institut für Parasitologie und Tropenveterinärmedizin

Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 62310
parasitologie@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Female sand fleas (Tunga penetrans Linnaeus, 1758, Siphonaptera: Tungidae) cause a severe parasitic skin disease known as tungiasis. T. penetrans is a small flea, measuring less than 1 mm in length. The females of this species burrow into the skin of human and animal hosts and mostly affect the feet. This has led to the anecdotal assumption that T. penetrans, unlike its relatives in the Siphonaptera family, would have a limited jumping ability potentially not reaching higher body parts. However, there is no data supporting this. This study evaluated the jumping capabilities of T. penetrans for height and distance using sticky tapes. The vertical jump of the female T. penetrans ranged from 4.5 to 100 mm with a mean of 40 mm whereas the vertical jump of the male T. penetrans ranged from 1.2 to 138 mm with a mean of 46 mm. The horizontal jump of the female T. penetrans ranged from 18 to 138 mm with a mean of 64 mm and that of the male ranged from 9 to 251 mm with a mean of 80 mm. Based on the literature, fleas of various species have been described as jumping vertically 50-100 times their size and horizontally 5-100 times their size. In this respect, sand fleas appear to have equal expert jumping abilities to their relatives. Their aggregation on people's feet is not likely a result of their poor jumping ability but might be an adaptation to the host's behavior which would require further investigations.