3. Fleas (Ctenocephalides) an adult female flea lays eggs following a blood meal from the host – laid in bunches ~20 – One adult can lay ~40 eggs every day eggs represent ~50% of the fleas in an average home – eggs take anywhere from 2-14 days to develop – warm and humid = best conditions

4. Fleas (Ctenocephalides) Emerging Larvae – blind – avoid being light – eat pre-digested blood (flea dirt) that adult fleas pass – up to ¼-inch long – white (almost see-through) – Legless – make up ~ 35% of fleas in the average household – spin cocoons in ~5-20 days of hatching from their eggs

5. Fleas (Ctenocephalides) Pupae – ~10 percent of the flea population in a home – cocoon protects the pupae for several days or weeks before the adult flea emerges – if environmental conditions are not right for emergence, the cocoon can protect the developing flea for months or years. cocoons – sticky outer coating that allows them to hide deep in the carpeting – light vacuuming or sweeping will not remove them – serves to protect the developing adults from chemicals

6. Flea Pupae

7. Fleas (Ctenocephalides) Adult – must begin to begin feed from a host within a few hours of emerging from cocoon – after the first meal, breeding and laying eggs occur within a few days – female fleas are not able to lay eggs until they obtain a blood meal – account for less than 5% of the entire flea population in a home – live on the host for a couple of weeks to several months

8. Adult Flea

9. Fleas - Tapeworm (Diphylidium) Flea tapeworm capsule is shed into the environment in the feces of an infected host – each egg capsule has 5-30 eggs Larval flea ingests egg capsule – Consumes eggs in capsule – Eggs hatch, releasing embryos (hexacanths) that invade larval flea’s body

10. Fleas - Tapeworm (Diphylidium) When larval flea cocoons, the tapeworm embryos grow into a cysticercoid Adult flea emerges and feeds on host – host consumes flea – cysticercoids develop into adult tapeworms in the small intestine – competes with host for nutrients

11. Fleas - Tapeworm (Diphylidium) 2-3 weeks after ingestion by host, the adult tapeworm matures and sheds segments of its body (proglottids) into the host’s feces – proglottids full of egg capsules Cycle repeats

12. Horse Bots Eggs – Can deposit 150 - 1000 eggs on a horse's body – typically occurs during the early summer months – ~0.05 inches long – pale to grayish yellow – eggs are essentially stalk-less and are attached near the tip of the hair

13. Horse Bot Eggs Horse bot fly, Gasterophilus intestinalis (DeGeer), egg case (hatched) attached to a horse hair.

14. Horse Bots Larvae – Develop within five days of being deposited – eggs hatch into a maggot 7 - 10 days of being laid – larvae are stimulated to emerge by the horse licking or biting the attached, fully developed eggs larvae either crawl to the mouth or are ingested bury themselves in the tongue, gums, or lining of the mouth for ~28 days ; molting occurs attach to the lining of the stomach – remain immobile for 9 - 12 months

15. Hot Bot Larvae Dorsal view (head on left) of the third instar larva of the common horse bot fly, Gasterophilus intestinalis

16. Horse Bot Infestation in Horse Stomach

17. Horse Bots Pupae – larvae have matured – detach from the gastrointestinal tract and pass from the horse's body in the feces – larvae burrow into the soil or dried manure where they pupate and remain for 1-2 months – occurs between late winter and early spring

18. Horse Bot Pupae Pupa of the common horse bot fly, Gasterophilus intestinalis

19. Horse Bots Adult – adult horse bot fly emerges after 3-10 weeks period during the summer or fall – After emerging from the pupa season it mates (manure pile)