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The effect of larval density on pre-imaginal development in two species of desert fleas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2010

I. S. KHOKHLOVA ,
A. HOVHANYAN ,
A. ALLAN DEGEN  and
B. R. KRASNOV
I. S. KHOKHLOVA
Affiliation:
Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
A. HOVHANYAN
Affiliation:
Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Institute for Dryland Environmental Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
A. ALLAN DEGEN
Affiliation:
Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
B. R. KRASNOV*
Affiliation:
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Institute for Dryland Environmental Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
*
*Corresponding author: Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Institute for Dryland Environmental Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede-Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel. Tel: +972 8 6596841. Fax: +972 8 6596772. E-mail: krasnov@bgu.ac.il
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Summary

We studied the effect of density of larvae on pre-imaginal development in 2 flea species (Xenopsylla conformis and Xenopsylla ramesis) parasitic on 2 desert rodent species (Dipodillus dasyurus, adult body mass 20 g and Meriones crassus, 80 g). We predicted a decrease in duration of development with an increase in density of larvae. In general, in both flea species, duration of larva-to-pupa development decreased with an increasing larval density. In addition, this stage of development was longer in male fleas and in fleas from parents fed on D. dasyurus. The effect of larval density on larval development was manifested mainly when parent fleas fed on D. dasyurus. Duration of pupation decreased with increasing larval density only in offspring of fleas fed on G. dasyurus. In both fleas, pupation was longer in males. The effect of parent host on duration of pupation was found in X. ramesis only (longer if the host was M. crassus). Resistance of newly emerged fleas to starvation depended mainly on parent host species. Young X. conformis survived longer if their parents fed on D. dasyurus, whereas young X. ramesis survived longer if their parents fed on M. crassus. It was also found that (a) an individual flea that spent more time as a larva also spent more time as a pupa and (b) longer larval development resulted in a shorter time that a newly emerged flea was able to survive when starved.

Keywords

density dependencefleaspre-imaginal developmentrodents
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 137 , Issue 13 , November 2010 , pp. 1925 - 1935
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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