Morphology of flea species of veterinary importance
On pets, particularly on cats and dogs, only a restricted number of flea species occur in large amounts with any regularity to be of importance as nuisance pests.
For the USA these are Ctenocephalides felis, the cat flea, Ctenocephalides canis, the dog flea, Pulex irritans, the human flea, and Echidnophaga gallinacea as well as Ceratophyllus gallinae, fleas found on poultry (Kalkofen and Greenburg, 1974; Amin, 1976; Harman et al., 1987; Dryden, 1988).
Similar situations are also found in Europe and other parts of the world with C. felis and C. canis mainly dominating and P. irritans and Archaeopsylla erinacei, the flea of the hedgehog, as species of possible high rates of infestations (24% (Baker and Hatch, 1972) and 8.3% (Kristensen et al., 1978)).

Morphology of important companion flea species: A Cat flea Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché 1835); B Dog flea Ctenocephalides canis (Curtis 1826); C Hedgehog flea Archaeopsylla erinacei; D Poultry flea Ceratophyllus gallinae (Schrank 1802)
The morphological differentiation between the two most relevant species of veterinary importance C. felis and C. canis as well as some other major flea species is given in below.
Morphological differentiation of the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) and the dog flea (Ctenocephalides canis)
Ctenocephalides felis | Ctenocephalides canis | |||||
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Shape of head capsule |
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Spine 1 and 2 of the genal comb |
Both 1st and 2nd spine have the same length |
1st spine is half as long as 2nd spine |
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Number of teeth of tibiae |
Tibiae of all 6 legs have 4 to 5 teeth |
Tibiae of all 6 legs have 7 to 8 teeth |
General morphological differentiation using the presence or absence of pronotal and genal combs in fleas
Without combs present | Only pronotal combs present | Only few pronotal and genal combs present | Several pronotal and genal combs present |
---|---|---|---|
Xenopsylla cheopis (Oriental rat flea) |
Nosopsyllus fasciatus (Northern rat flea) |
Ischnopsylliadae (Bat fleas) | Spilopsyllus cuniculi (European rabbit flea) |
Pulex irritans (Human flea) |
Ceratophyllus gallinae (Poultry flea) |
Archaeophsylla errinacei (Hedgehog flea) |
Leptopsylla segnis (European mouse flea) |
Echidnophaga gallinacea (Sticktight flea) |
Diamanus montanus (Ground squirrel flea) |
Ctenocephalides canis (Dog flea) |
|
Orchopeas howardii (Squirrel flea) |
Ctenocephalides felis (Cat flea) |
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Cediopsylla simplex (Common eastern rabbit flea) |
References
Amin OM: Host associations and seasonal occurrence of fleas from southeastern Wisconsin mammals, with observations on morphologic variations. J Med Entomol. 1976, 13, 179-92
Baker KP, Hatch C: The species of fleas found on Dublin dogs. Vet Rec. 1972, 91, 151-2
Dryden MW: Evaluation of certain parameters in the bionomics of Ctenocephalides felis felis (Bouché 1835). 1988, MS Thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette
Harman DA, Halliwell RE, Greiner EC: Flea species from dogs and cats in North-Central Florida. Vet Parasitol. 1987, 23, 135-40
Kalkofen UP, Greenberg J: Public health implications of Pulex irritans infestations of dogs. Am Vet Med Assoc. 1974, 165, 903-5
Kristensen S, Haarløv N, Mourier H: A study of skin diseases in dogs and cats. IV. Patterns of flea infestation in dogs and cats in Denmark. Nord Vet Med. 1978, 30, 401-13
Ménier K, Beaucournu JC: Taxonomic study of the genus Ctenocephalides Stiles & Collins, 1930 (Insecta: Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) by using aedegous characters. J Med Entomol. 1998, 35, 883-90
Soulsby EJL (ed.): Helminths, arthropods and protozoa of domesticated animals, 7th edn., 1982, Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia
Urquhart GM, Armour J, Duncan J, et al. (eds.): Order Siphonaptera. In: Veterinary parasitology. 1987, Longman Scientific & Technical, Essex, England, pp 171-5