title: The cat flea (Ctenocephalides f. felis) is the dominant flea on domestic dogs and cats in Australian veterinary practices.
abstract: This study was undertaken to determine the flea diversity on urban dogs and cats in Australia in 2009-2010. A total of 2530 fleas were recovered from 291 animals (151 dogs, 69 cats and 71 uncategorised dogs or cats) from veterinary clinics across five states of Australia. The majority of specimens were from coastal areas. The cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis felis) was the most frequent flea species identified (98.8%, 2500/2530). The only other flea species identified was the stickfast flea (Echidnophaga gallinacea) from Western Australia. Sequencing of the cytochrome oxidase subunit II mtDNA revealed a single haplotype across Australia within a subset of C. f. felis (n=19). Our study demonstrated dominance and haplotype homogeneity of C. f. felis on dogs and cats. Although Ctenocephalides canis was recovered from a feral fox, it was not identified from the sample of fleas analysed. This suggests that, under current conditions, it is unlikely that foxes are reservoirs of C. canis for domestic dogs or cats residing in coastal Australia, as previously speculated.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, McMaster Building B14, The University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. jan.slapeta@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Slapeta
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McDonell
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Homer
authors.forename: Pip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hannan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Emery
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D002415:Cats; D058251:Ctenocephalides; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D004285:Dogs; D004478:Ectoparasitic Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data