122 MISC. PUBLICATION 5 0, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Besides the type species, which is restricted to the tropical regions 

 of Africa and the New World, five other species of Tunga are known, 

 including Tunga caecatus Enclerlein, which is found in Brazil, and 

 T. caecigena Jordan and Rothschild, which has been taken from the 

 ears of sewer rats in China. 



Tunga penetrans (Linnaeus) 



(Fig. 13, B, D) 



Pulex penetrans L., 1758, Systema Naturae, ed. 10, p. 614. 



Type host. — Man 



Type locality. — "America." 



Range. — Widely distributed in the tropical regions of America 

 and Africa. Although reported from Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, 

 it probably is not permanently established in the United States. 



This species is known as the jigger, the sand flea, or the chigoe. 

 Also it has been termed the chigger, but incorrectly so, as this last 

 term is more appropriately applied to the larvae of mites of the sub- 

 family Trombiculinae which parasitize vertebrates. 



L. C. Johnson (38, p. 203) sent a note to the Entomological Society 

 of Washington in 1889 reporting the occurrence of a flea in Florida 

 on chickens, turkeys, etc., with habits somewhat similar to those of 

 Tunga penetrans. Unfortunately he referred to this flea as the jigger 

 flea, a name which should have been reserved for T. penetrans. His 

 flea, which he named Pulex pulfodorum, proved to be a synonym of 

 Echidnophaga gallinacea (Westwood) . 



Faust and Maxwell (80), in 1930, reported an unusual case of the 

 infestation, by the larvae of Tunga penetrans, of the skin of the 

 pubic and inguinal regions of a man in New Orleans. The source of 

 infestation appeared to be sisal hemp from Yucatan, since the patient 

 gave a history of having sat on piles of this hemp as the cargo was 

 being checked. 



The life history of Tunga, penetrans is rather remarkable, since 

 the fertilized female actually burrows into the skin of the host. Here 

 her engorgement with blood and the development of many eggs 

 brings about a great enlargement of the abdomen. This distension 

 may increase until the abdomen is spherical in shape and many times 

 its original size. The dilation of the abdomen takes place entirely 

 through the stretching of the intersegmental membrane between the 

 second and third abdominal segments. According to Hicks (28) eggs 

 hatch in from 3 to 4 days, while the entire life cycle is about 17 days. 



In the case of man the favorite points of attack by this flea are 

 between the toes and under the toe nails. Here the enlarging females 

 cause intense itching and inflammation and produce swellings and 

 ulceration. Finally secondary infection may result in tetanus or 

 gangrene. In addition to man, many of his domestic animals are 

 attacked. One of the writers (Ewing) identified specimens of this 

 flea (including eggs) taken from an adult male gorilla at Djaposten, 

 Africa, by H. Raven, February 1920. He also extracted many eggs 

 of penetrans from a lump of skin of a baby gorilla taken in the 

 Belgian Congo by Benjamin Bnrbridge in 1923. 



According to Dalla Torre (10, p. 21) this species has as a synonym 

 JSarcopsyUus eanis Westwood, described in 1840 (19, p. 203). 



