CreatureData

Flea

Pulex irritans Linnaeus, 1758

Status not recordedinsects

The flea (Pulex irritans) is a species in the family Pulicidae, order Siphonaptera.

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Quick facts about the flea

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the flea live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the flea as introduced in 5 countries.

  1. Canary Islands
  2. France
  3. Japan
  4. South Africa
  5. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the flea endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the flea classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderSiphonaptera
  5. familyPulicidae
  6. genusPulex
  7. SpeciesPulex irritans Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Pulex bahiensis, Pulex conepati, Pulex fulvus, Pulex hominis, Pulex irritans fulvus, Pulex irritans var. bahiensis, Pulex orientalis, Pulex vulgaris

Other names and names in other languages (26)
  • Human fleaEnglish
  • pulgaAsturian
  • blecha obecnáCzech
  • MenneskeloppeDanish
  • MenschenflohGerman
  • pulga humanaSpanish
  • ihmiskirppuFinnish
  • puce de l'hommeFrench
  • emberbolhaHungarian
  • Pulce dell'uomoItalian
  • ノミJapanese
  • 사람벼룩Korean
  • MensenvloDutch
  • menneskjeloppeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • Pchła ludzkaPolish
  • Pulga do HomemPortuguese
  • Puricele de omRomanian
  • Блоха человеческаяRussian
  • blcha ľudskáSlovak
  • människoloppaSwedish
  • หมัดคนThai
  • İnsan piresiTurkish
  • lesaiTswana
  • 人蚤Chinese
  • ヒトノミJapanese
  • letsetseTswana

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the flea

Other species in the same genus Pulex.

CompareFlea vs Pulex alvareziFlea vs Pulex echidnophagoidesFlea vs Pulex larimeriusFlea vs Pulex porcinus

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the flea an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the flea as introduced in 5 countries: Canary Islands, France, Japan, South Africa and United States, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the flea?

The flea (Pulex irritans) belongs to the family Pulicidae in the order Siphonaptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Flea (Pulex irritans). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/flea

MLA

“Flea (Pulex irritans).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/flea.

BibTeX
@misc{flea_2026,
  title = {Flea (Pulex irritans)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/flea},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}