Understanding attraction stimuli of the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, in non-chemical control methods

G. C. Müller, M. W. Dryden, E. E. Revay, V. D. Kravchenko, A. B. Broce, K. Hampton, A. Junnila, Y. Schlein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Comparisons were conducted of flea catches of four commercially available flea traps in the laboratory and under field conditions, in both rural and urban locations. The results clearly showed the My Flea Trap™, which utilizes an intermittent light to attract fleas, to be far superior in trapping ability to the three continuous light traps; it caught up to 23 times as many fleas as the other traps. Altering the lighting mechanism to provide continuous rather than intermittent light significantly decreased the number of fleas captured. In addition, the use of a green filter significantly increased trapping efficiency, whereas the addition of a heat source had no apparent effect.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)413-420
Number of pages8
JournalMedical and Veterinary Entomology
Volume25
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Attraction stimuli
  • Cat fleas
  • Ctenocephalides felis
  • Non-chemical control
  • Traps

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Parasitology
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • General Veterinary
  • Insect Science

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