This female Aedes albopictus mosquito is feeding on a human blood meal, thereby, becoming engorged with blood.
Under successful experimental transmission, Aedes albopictus has been found to be a vector of West Nile Virus. Aedes is a genus of the Culicine family of mosquitoes.
This image depicts an Aedes albopictus female mosquito feeding on a human host.
There is a small, but significant, risk for dengue outbreaks in the continental United States. Two competent mosquito vectors, Aedes Aegypti and A. albopictus, are present and, under certain circumstances, each could transmit dengue viruses.
The mosquito pictured here in this 2005 photograph, was until recently known as Aedes japonicus, and is now labeled Ochlerotatus japonicus. This particular specimen was a member of the Notre Dame colony. Oc. japonicus was initially collected in the United States in New York and New Jersey, in 1998.
The Ochlerotatus japonicus Notre Dame colony was established from specimens that had been collected as larvae, in water filled containers, i.e., flower pots and tires, in residential areas of South Bend, Indiana during the summer months of 2005. This mosquito is suspected of being a vector of the Japanese Encephalitis virus in Asia, and the West Nile in the United States. While Oc. japonicus has not been incriminated as a major vector of West Nile virus in the United States, it is nevertheless of concern to public health agencies because of its fairly rapid colonization of a large part of the north eastern and midwestern United States, and for its propensity to lay eggs in flooded containers found around human dwellings.
Note the difference in the arrangement of the tergal bristles on Ceratophyllidae and Hystrichopsyllidae fleas.
In general, fleas in the families Ceratophyllidae and Hystrichopsyllidae have two or more rows of bristles on each abdominal tergite, which are the plate-like, exoskeletal components of the flea’s abdomen.
This illustration shows the identifying morphologic structures of an adult female flea.
Female fleas may be recognized by the presence of a spermatheca, which after mating, functions as a sperm storage receptacle. The characteristics of the spermatheca vary, i.e. size, shape and pigmentation, from specie to specie.
This illustration shows some common identifying characteristics found on the thorax of fleas.
Identifying features on the thorax include a pronotal comb, an internal thickening of the mesopleuron, spinelets on the metanotum, bristles/spinelets on the 1st segment (coxae) of the legs, and the plantar bristles on the last segment of the leg.
This illustration shows some common identifying characteristics found on the abdomen of the flea.
Identifying abdominal structures include the number of rows of tergal bristles, and number of antepygidial bristles; in females, the shape of the spermatheca and 7th sternal segment, in males, it’s the shape of certain structures in the terminal segment.
This diagram highlights some common identifying morphologic features found on the head region of fleas.
Identifying features include the absence or presence of an eye, the number and placement of ocular and post-antennal setae, the number of teeth in the genal comb, and the structure of the mouth parts, particularly the length of the labial palpi.
This illustration shows some of the identifying characteristics of the “rock squirrel” flea, Diamanus montanus.
D. montanus, has a very long pair of labial palpi, extending beyond the tip of the trochanter of its first pair of legs. This flea is known to be a plague vector in the United States, associated with rock squirrels, Spermophilus variegatus.
This illustration shows one of the identifying morphologic characteristics of the “mouse flea”, Leptopsylla segnia.
Leptopsylla segnia has 4 prominent teeth in the genal comb on either side of its head; it also lacks eyes. It is more closely associated with rats of the genus Rattus spp. than with mice. It has been found to be a poor plague vector.