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Siphonaptera
| Description | Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that survive as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by consuming blood, or hematophagy, from their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about 3 mm (0.12 in) long, are usually brown, and have bodies that are "flattened" sideways or narrow, enabling them to move through their host's fur or feathers. They lack wings, but have strong claws preventing them from being dislodged, mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood, and hind legs extremely well adapted for jumping. They are able to leap a distance of some 50 times their body length, a feat second only to jumps made by another group of insects, the superfamily of froghoppers. Flea larvae are worm-like with no limbs; they have chewing mouthparts and feed on organic debris left on their host's skin. From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siphonaptera, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source Data |
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| Rank | order | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Arthropoda : Insecta : Siphonaptera | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Common Name | flea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific Name | Siphonaptera | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Status (PBDB) | extant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 42 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Extant Size (PBDB) | 12 (29%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 166 - 157 Ma Jurassic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Environment | terrestrial (based on Insecta) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | actively mobile (based on Arthropoda) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | chitin (based on Insecta) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | F. M. Carpenter. 1992. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part R, Arthropoda 4: Superclass Hexapoda 3/4:1-655 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Name(s) | Fleas, Pulga, Flea, Loppor, Flöhe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siphonaptera |
External Images
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saurophthiroidea ✝ superfamily | listed (PBDB) | 11 | 166 Ma Middle Jurassic | 122 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |
| Ancistropsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Ceratophyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Chimaeropsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Coptopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Ctenophthalmidae family | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 5 | 38.0 Ma Eocene | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Ctenopthalmidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Histrichopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Hystrichopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 0 Ma Extant | |||
| Ischnopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Leptopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Lycopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Macropsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Malacopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Pseudopulicidae ✝ family | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 6 | 166 Ma Middle Jurassic | 125 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |
| Pulicidae family | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 5 | 122 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Pygiopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Rhopalopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 0 Ma Extant | |||
| Saurophthiridae ✝ family | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 4 | 125 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 125 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |
| Stephanocircidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Stivaliidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Tarwiniidae ✝ family | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 1 | 122 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 122 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |
| Tungidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Vermipsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Xiphiopsyllidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Johnsonaepsylla genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Megapsylla genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Micropsylla genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Niwratia ✝ genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 1 | 122 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 122 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |
| Opisocrostis genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Pleochaetoides genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Rectofrontia genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Thrassoides genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
|---|---|
| 1825 | Siphonaptera Latreille p. 334 |
| 1992 | Siphonaptera Carpenter |
| 2004 | Siphonaptera Kukalová-Peck and Lawrence |
| 2010 | Siphonaptera Minet et al. |
| 2011 | Siphonaptera Beutel et al. |
| 2014 | Siphonaptera Misof et al. |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
