Ciekawostka: The flea can jump 350 times its body length

Evidence: 45 • authority: 92

Myth or truth: investigation of the jumping ability of Tunga penetrans (Siphonaptera: Tungidae).. Female sand fleas (Tunga penetrans Linnaeus, 1758, Siphonaptera: Tungidae) cause a severe parasitic skin disease known as tungiasis. T. penetrans is a small flea, measuring less than 1 mm in length. The females of this species burrow into the skin of human and animal hosts and mostly affect the feet. This has led to the anecdotal assumption that T. penetrans, unlike its relatives in the Siphonaptera family, would have a limited jumping ability potentially not reaching higher body parts. However, there is no data supporting this. This study evaluated the jumping capabilities of T. penetrans for…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 72

Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about 3 millimetres (1⁄8 inch) long, are usually dark in color, and have bodies that are "flattened" sideways or narrow, enabling them to move through their hosts' fur or feathers. They lack wings; their hind legs are extremely well adapted for jumping. Their claws keep them from being dislodged, and their mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Some species can leap 50 times their body length, a feat second only to jumps made by another group of ins…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 80

This legless insect can jump 30 times its body length

Evidence: 25 • authority: 80

"Lucy's" body height and relative leg length: human- or ape-like?

Evidence: — • authority: 35