Pulex irritans Linnaeus, 1758
(Human Flea)

Interactions where Pulex irritans is the dominant partner and gains from the process

The following relationships have been collated from the published literature (see 'Interaction References').

Stage Summary Taxon Vernacular Classification References Darwin Classification of Active Taxon Active Taxon Active Vernacular Active Taxon Uncertain Active State Active Part Active Stage Relationship Relationship Uncertain Relationship Geography Darwin Classification of Passive Taxon Passive Taxon Passive Vernacular Passive Taxon Uncertain Passive State Passive Part Passive Stage Passive Taxon's significance to Active Taxon Indoors etc Season
adult adult sucks the blood of Homo sapiens Man, Human Primates: Hominidae Identification of Animal Parasites, Avery, R.A., 1974
/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Siphonaptera/Pulicidae/Pulex (Pulex) irritans/Pulex (Pulex) irritanshuman fleaadult Animal / parasite / ectoparasite / blood sucker /Animalia/Chordata/Mammalia/Primates/Hominidae/Homo sapiens/Homo sapiensman, human
larva larva feeds on animal debris fallen skin flakes Homo sapiens Man, Human Primates: Hominidae /Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Siphonaptera/Pulicidae/Pulex (Pulex) irritans/Pulex (Pulex) irritanshuman flealarva Animal / dung / debris saprobe /Animalia/Chordata/Mammalia/Primates/Hominidae/Homo sapiens/Homo sapiensman, humanfallenskin flakes
larva larva feeds on animal debris fallen hair Homo sapiens Man, Human Primates: Hominidae /Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Siphonaptera/Pulicidae/Pulex (Pulex) irritans/Pulex (Pulex) irritanshuman flealarva Animal / dung / debris saprobe /Animalia/Chordata/Mammalia/Primates/Hominidae/Homo sapiens/Homo sapiensman, humanfallenhair

Author & YearTitleSource
Avery, R.A., 1974Identification of Animal ParasitesHulton Group Keys, 182pp, Hulton Educational Publications Ltd.

Pulex irritans (Human Flea) may also be included in 'feeds on' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

Pulex irritans (Human Flea) may be included in 'fed on by' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

Taxonomic hierarchy:
SpeciesPulex irritans (Human Flea)
FamilyPULICIDAE (a family of fleas)
SuperfamilyPULICOIDEA (a superfamily of fleas)
OrderSIPHONAPTERA (fleas)
Division Endopterygota (bees, beetles, flies, moths and other insects with wings developing internally)
InfraclassNeoptera (bees, beetles, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other advanced insects)
SubclassPTERYGOTA (bees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other winged insects)
ClassINSECTA (true insects)
SubphylumHEXAPODA (insects and other 6-legged organisms)
PhylumARTHROPODA (arthropods)
SuperphylumECDYSOZOA (skin shedders)
CladeBilateria (bilaterally symmetrical animals)
SubkingdomEUMETAZOA (metazoans)
KingdomANIMALIA (animals)
DomainEukaryota (eukaryotes)
LifeBIOTA (living things)
NBNNBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Pulex irritans (Human Flea)

Pulex irritans (Human Flea) may be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

Literature listed under the following higher taxa may be relevant to Pulex irritans (Human Flea):

Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioInfo website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.

BioInfo - Wildlife Information (UK)