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The variation in population densities of fleas in house martin nests in Leicestershire
Author(s) -
CLARK FRANK,
McNEIL D. A. C.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2311.1981.tb00628.x
Subject(s) - nest (protein structural motif) , biology , flea , feather , population , ecology , pebble , zoology , demography , paleontology , biochemistry , sociology
. 1. Five species of flea were recorded from 150 nests taken from house eaves in Leicestershire. Three species, C.hirundinis, C.farreniand C.rusticus , were associated with nests used for breeding by martins in the year of collection whilst C.gallinae and C.fringillae were associated with nests used by sparrows. 2. Analysis of the three species of martin fleas with various characteristics of the structure and location of the nest revealed that all three species favoured the presence of nest lining consisting of feathers or grass (or the two combined) in preference to straw or to no nest lining. 3. Both C.hirundinis and C.rusticus showed a preference for the texture of the surface to which the nest was attached, the former preferring nests attached to plain brick, or pebble‐dashed surfaces, whilst the latter preferred pebble‐dash to stone. Both also showed a relation with the height of the nest above ground level. 4. The numbers of C.hirundinus showed a strong positive correlation with those of C.farreni and C.rusticus , which were not correlated with each other. 5. Lastly, the number of nests collected that had been used by house sparrows and contained C.gallinae and C.fringillae was too small to allow us to reach any conclusion about their preferences.