Effect of host gender on blood digestion in fleas: mediating role of environment

Khokhlova, Irina S.; Serobyan, Vahan; Krasnov, Boris R.; Degen, A. Allan

doi:10.1007/s00436-009-1608-5

Cited by 28 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Fleas that took a blood meal were found to be at the early stage of digestion (e.g. Khokhlova et al, 2009a). In other words, the status of digestion in P. chephrenis after 6h was similar to that in X. ramesis after 2h.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Further details on breeding and maintenance of fleas are given elsewhere (e.g. Krasnov et al, 2002;Krasnov et al, 2003;Khokhlova et al, 2009a;Khokhlova et al, 2009b;Khokhlova et al, 2010 Krasnov et al, 2002;Krasnov et al, 2003;Khokhlova et al, 2009a;Khokhlova et al, 2009b;Khokhlova et al, 2010). Gerbillus andersoni and G. pyramidum as well as feral house mice were captured in the wild in the Negev Desert.…”

Section: Materials and Methods Fleasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The difference in flea feeding time is related to between-species differences in the time necessary for the majority of individuals to complete the blood meal successfully. This time was established for P. chephrenis and X. ramesis from our earlier studies (Sarfati et al, 2005;Khokhlova et al, 2008;Khokhlova et al, 2009a;Khokhlova et al, 2009c). After collecting fleas from a rodent, we examined the midgut of each flea under a light microscope (without dissection) to verify whether a flea took a blood meal and, if yes, to confirm the blood digestion status.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gas exchange measurements in this study were made on fleas removed from the host after 2h (for X. ramesis) or 6h (for P. chephrenis) of feeding and thus represented the first of three consecutive stages of blood digestion (see Krasnov et al, 2003;Khokhlova et al, 2009a). Therefore, metabolic expenditure most probably represented biochemical processes such as haemolysis and digestion of blood to haematin and not the mechanical aspects of digestion (release of undigested remnants and final products), which are more typical of the later stages of digestion (Sarfati et al, 2005).…”

Section: Physiological Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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Digesting blood of an auxiliary host in fleas: effect of phylogenetic distance from a principal host

Khokhlova

Fielden

Degen

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYFleas are haematophagous ectoparasites that exhibit varying degrees of host specificity. Flea abundance is highest on principal hosts and lower on auxiliary hosts but may vary greatly among auxiliary hosts. We investigated the feeding and energy expenditure for digestion in two flea species Parapulex chephrenis and Xenopsylla ramesis on a principal host (Acomys cahirinus and Meriones crassus, respectively) and eight auxiliary host species. We predicted that fleas would perform better -that is (i) a higher proportion of fleas would take a blood meal, (ii) fleas would take larger blood meals and (iii) fleas would spend less energy on digestion -if they fed on (i) a principal host compared with an auxiliary host and (ii) an auxiliary host phylogenetically close to a principal host compared with an auxiliary host phylogenetically distant from a principal host. Energy costs of digestion were estimated using CO 2 emission and represented energy cost during the first stage of blood digestion. Contrary to our predictions, fleas did not always perform better on a principal than on an auxiliary host or on auxiliary hosts phylogenetically closer to the principal host than on auxiliary hosts phylogenetically distant from a principal host. Variation in flea feeding performance may result from the interplay of several factors including co-occurrence between hosts and susceptibility of a host to flea attacks, the species-specific level of immunocompetence of a host and the level of host specificity of a flea. This study describes the first investigation into the metabolic expenditure of parasitism and its relationship to phylogenetic relationships amongst hosts.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Materials and Methods Fleasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Physiological Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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Digesting blood of an auxiliary host in fleas: effect of phylogenetic distance from a principal host

Khokhlova

Fielden

Degen

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Specific details regarding rearing procedures and colony maintenance are published elsewhere (e.g. Krasnov et al, 2002;Khokhlova et al, 2009).…”

Section: Materials and Methods Study Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological asymmetry and habitat quality: using fleas and their rodent hosts as a novel experimental system

Warburton

Khokhlova

Kiefer

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Morphological asymmetry is widely used to measure developmental instability and higher levels of asymmetry often correlate with decreased mating success, increased inbreeding, increased stress and decreased habitat quality. We studied asymmetry and relationships between asymmetry and host identity in two flea species, host generalist Xenopsylla ramesis and host specialist Parapulex chephrenis, and asked: (1) what the level of asymmetry was in their femurs and tibiae; (2) which type of asymmetry predominates; and (3) whether fleas that fed on host species distantly related to their principal host species produced offspring that exhibited greater asymmetry compared with offspring of fleas that fed on their principal host species. We found fluctuating asymmetry in femurs and tibiae of X. ramesis and in the tibiae of P. chephrenis as well as significantly left-handed directional asymmetry in the femurs of P. chephrenis. Host species identity significantly impacted asymmetry in leg segments of P. chephrenis but not in those of X. ramesis. Offspring asymmetry increased when mother fleas fed on a host that was distantly related to the principal host. Fleas parasitizing multiple host species might compensate for developmental instability when utilizing a novel host species; therefore, host-switching events in host-specific parasites could be constrained by the relatedness between a novel and a principal host species.

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Sex differences in flea infections among rodent hosts: is there a male bias?

et al. 2014

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Recognizing patterns of parasite distribution among wildlife hosts is of major importance due to growing risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases to humans. Thus, sex-dependent parasite distribution in higher vertebrates is extensively studied, and males are often found more parasitized than females. Male-biased parasitism may be the result of weaker immunocompetence of male hosts owing to the immunosuppressive effect of androgens. Moreover, larger hosts (males) may demonstrate higher parasite infestation levels than smaller individuals (females), as they constitute a better nutritional resource for parasites and provide them with a greater variety of niches. In the present work, we investigated sex-dependent patterns of flea distribution among three common rodent species (Apodemus agrarius, Apodemus flavicollis, and Myodes glareolus). We hypothesized that males have a higher flea infestation than females. We confirm male-biased parasitism in A. agrarius and M. glareolus, but not in A. flavicollis. Additionally, flea infestation increased with body mass in A. agrarius, but not in A. flavicollis and M. glareolus. The detected differences in parasite distribution among sexes are probably the result of immunosuppressive effects of androgens and spatial behavior of males.

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Effect of host gender on blood digestion in fleas: mediating role of environment

Cited by 28 publications

References 38 publications

Digesting blood of an auxiliary host in fleas: effect of phylogenetic distance from a principal host

Digesting blood of an auxiliary host in fleas: effect of phylogenetic distance from a principal host

Morphological asymmetry and habitat quality: using fleas and their rodent hosts as a novel experimental system

Sex differences in flea infections among rodent hosts: is there a male bias?

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