The Host-Parasite Interaction of Peromyscus Maniculatus and the Embedded Female of Tunga Monositus (Siphonaptera: Tungidae)1

An account is given of the feeding behavior of a female tungid flea, Tunga monositus, which embeds in the ear pinna of the cricetid rodent Peromyscus maniculatus. Sequential serial sections of ears containing fleas embedded from 6 h to 29 days were studied. In the early feeding phase, the fleas take up fluid and cellular exudates. Later they ingest whole blood. The feeding behavior of T. monositus in the skin of Peromyscus resembles that of fleas parasitizing Mus. However, the intake of neutrophils by Peromyscus during the cellular exudate feeding phase is significantly higher than that of Mus. Also, the flea commences feeding from a blood pool much earlier in Peromyscus than in Mus. There does not appear to be any difference between the feeding behavior of fleas embedded in the ears of P. maniculatus from Marin County, Northern California (USA) and those parasitizing the pinna of P. maniculatus from San Quintin, Baja California (Mexico).