Habitat
The cat flea (C. felis) is the most common species
of fleas found infesting cats throughout the world and in some
countries is even the most common species infesting dogs,
including the countries Queensland, Australia, Egypt, Denmark,
Argentina, Puerto Rico, France, Germany, and England, and the
states of Virginia, California, Wisconsin, Florida, and Indiana.
Aside from dogs and cats, the cat flea has also been found to
harbor among other animals such as coyotes, red and gray foxes,
bobcats, Florida panthers, skunks, raccoons, opossums, ferrets,
and several species of rodents. This wide range of hosts
this species has the ability to inhabit has allowed for it to
spread throughout most of the inhabited areas of the world.
The only limiting factor to its spread is the inability for it
to survive at temperatures below -1°C
for more than five days at any stage of its life cycle.
Also, for cat flea larvae to have optimum development,
temperatures ranging from 20 to 30°C
and a humidity greater than 70% are required, which can limit
the locations of where it can be found at times.
(Rust
and Dryden 1997)
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