Body Structure
The Oriental rat flea has no genal or pronotal combs. This characteristic can be used to differentiate the oriental rat flea from the cat flea, dog flea, and other fleas.
The flea's body is only about one tenth of an inch long (about 2.5 mm). A flea's body is constructed to make it easier to jump long distances. The flea's body consists of three regions: head, thorax, and abdomen. The head and the thorax have rows of bristles (called combs) and the abdomen consists of eight visible segments.
A flea's mouth has two functions: one for squirting saliva or partly digested blood into the bite, and one for sucking up blood from the host. This process mechanically transmits pathogens that may cause diseases the flea might have. Fleas smell exhaled carbon dioxide from humans and animals and jump rapidly to the source to feed on the newly found host. A flea is wingless so it can not fly, but it can jump long distances with the help of small powerful legs. A flea's leg consists of four parts. The part that is closest to the body is the coxa. Next is the femur, tibia and tarsus. A flea can use its legs to jump up to 200 times its own body length (about 20 in/50 cm). It can also jump about 130 times its own height (about 13 in/33 cm).
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