The flea
Clear the ring for the flea! With its astonishing bounce, this pest could easily perform in the circus. He owes this ability to his strong hind legs. For us humans this is not that easy to imagine, since the insect is only one to four millimeters tall. However, the greater the variety of varieties. Around 2400 species exist worldwide. Of these, 80 species are common in Central Europe.
Another genus of jumping insects is the louse. The best known representative of its kind is probably the head louse. It remains as small as the flea and has similar properties:
- The insects can sometimes jump up to a meter.
- They feed on animal and human blood.
- They are transmitted through close physical contact.
- Both types are parasites.
- They love moisture.
also read
- Fight pests with insects
- These beneficial insects live in your garden
- How to attract insects to the garden
How to spot fleas and lice
Although the ability to cover a long distance with one jump is a real specialty in the animal kingdom, you will hardly recognize fleas and lice by their jumps. The following symptoms are much more likely to occur:
- itching
- Small stitches on the skin, mostly linear
- Stings can become infected
- Sometimes infects food
- Transmission of bacteria possible
The meadow foam cicada holds the world record
The Flea is a true world champion in the long jump. However, when it comes to height, the meadow-foam cicada, also a jumping insect, deserves the gold medal. She can jump up a full 70 cm. Compared to large mammals, that doesn't sound particularly impressive, but compared to the body dimensions of the meadow-foam hippopotamus, no animal (and certainly no human) can beat them.
Incidentally, a person could jump 90 m far and 50 m high if he had the muscle strength of these insects in his legs.
