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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: orders |
Fleas.
Adult insects. Parasitic; ectoparasitic on mammals and ectoparasitic on birds; conspicuous ‘jumpers’. Minute to small; flightless. Body laterally flattened. Head hypognathous. Mouthparts well developed; suctorial; piercing; highly modified (mandibles absent, the maxillary laciniae adapted as a pair of long, distally serrated, cutting blades, the maxillary and labial palpi well developed with the latter forming a sheath for the laciniae, and the epipharynx forming a long stylet). Antennae complex (the terminal segment usually petiolate, with nine ‘units’); 3 segmented. Compound eyes vestigial or absent. Ocelli 2 (or these reduced), or 0. Tarsi 5 segmented. Abdomen not conspicuously appendaged; apparently 10 segmented.
Larvae. Larvae saprophagous (commonly in dust and detritus); without segmented thoracic legs (vermiform); without ventral abdominal prolegs; with paired anal prolegs to without anal prolegs (the terminal segment with a pair of ‘anal struts’). Larval head with a well sclerotized capsule. Development of larva into adult involving marked metamorphosis; endopterygote; involving a pupal stage.
Pupae. Pupae without a puparium; without articulated mandibles; with free appendages.
Classification. Subclass Pterygota; Division Endopterygota.
British representation. Ceratophyllidae, Hystrichopsyllidae, Ichnopsyllidae, Leptopsyllidae, Pulicidae; genera about 25; about 50 species.
Illustrations. • Ceratophyllus Curtis, = Ischnopsyllus elongatus (Curtis): Yellow Bat's Flea; B. Ent. 417. • Ischnopsyllus elongatus (detail: B. Ent. 417). • Ischnopsyllus elongatus (dissection details: B. Ent. 417). • Ceratophyllys (= Ischnopsyllus) elongatus: B. Ent. 417, legend+text. This appears to comprise Curtis's original description of the genus Ceratophyllus, as well as that of the species elongatus (the latter since referred to Ischnopsyllus). • Ceratophyllys (= Ischnopsyllus) elongatus: B. Ent. 417, text cont.). • Hystrichopsylla talpae (Curtis). (Mole's Flea: B. Ent. 114). • Hystrichopsylla talpae (detail, dissections: B. Ent. 114). • Hystrichopsylla talpae (B. Ent. 114, legend+text). This appears to contain Curtis's original description of the species. • Hystrichopsylla talpae (B. Ent. 114, text cont.). • Pulex irritans (Common Flea: Shaw & Nodder (1794). • Pulex irritans (text: Shaw & Nodder). • Pulex irritans (text, cont.: Shaw & Nodder). • Pulex irritans (text, cont.: Shaw & Nodder). • Pulex irritans (text, cont.: Shaw & Nodder). • Pulex irritans (text, cont.: Shaw & Nodder). • Pulex irritans and Pulex canis: Walker. 1, Pulex irritans, female. 1a-1h, details of Pulex canis. 1a, mouth with its components separated: md = mandibles, mx = maxilla, mp = maxillary palps, t = tongue, mn = mentum, lb = labium, lp - labial palps. 1b, end of one of the mandibles. 1c, parts of the mouth, from the side, showing one maxilla and its palp, one mandible, and the labium with its pair of 4-segmented palps. 1d, a different view of the same. 1e, maxilla with its palp. 1f, terminal joint of the tarsus of a middle leg, showing only one of the claws, which is basally lobed and bears four rigid spines beneath and several slender ones around its tip. 1g, both claws. 1h, portion of a claw, which is seen to be finely, obliquely striated and crenated. From Walker (1856, Plate XXI).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: orders. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
