Belongs within: Siphonaptera.
The Pulicidae is a family of fleas including some species of the most significance for humans, such as the human flea Pulex irritans, the dog and cat fleas Ctenocephalides spp., and the Oriental rat flea Xenopsylla cheopis. Pulex irritans is the only flea species known to habitually parasitise a primate. Xenopsylla cheopis is notorious as the primary vector for the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis. Females of the chigoe flea or jigger Tunga penetrans burrow into the skin of mammals including humans, leaving only the tip of the abdomen exposed for excretion, mating and laying eggs.
Species of the genus Ctenocephalides are characterised by the presence of both pronotal and genal ctenidia, with the genal ctenidium horizontal and comprised of curved, sharp spines. The rabbit flea Spilopsyllus cuniculi differs from Ctenocephalides in the genal ctenidium being near vertical with straight, blunt spines (Dunnet & Mardon 1991).
Characters (from Brinck-Lindroth & Smit 2007): Terga II–VII each with only one row of setae. Mesonotum without pseudosetae under collar; metanotum and terga without marginal spinelets or ctenidia. Head without anterior tentorial rod. Outer internal ridge of mid coxa absent; hind coxa with a row or group of small spiniform setae on lower part of inner side; hind tibia without an apical tooth on outside. No setae above spiracular fossa of tergum VIII.
<==Pulicidae [Pulicoidea]
|--Tunga [Tungidae, Tunginae]GE05
| `--T. penetransGE05
`--ArchaeopsylliniKP19
|--Archaeopsylla erinaceiA71
`--CtenocephalidesKP19
|--C. canisDM91
`--C. felis (Bouché 1835)H82
Pulicidae incertae sedis:
Hoplopsyllus anomalusTW05
Typhlopsylla typhlusK01
Spilopsyllus cuniculiDM91
Pulex Linnaeus 1758L58
|--P. echidnae Denny 1843O86
|--P. fasciatus Bosc 1800B00
|--P. irritans Linnaeus 1758L58
|--P. (Pulex) larimeriusR02
`--P. penetrans Linnaeus 1758L58
Echidnophaga Olliff 1886O86
|--*E. ambulans Olliff 1886O86
|--E. eyreiDM91
|--E. gallinaceaGE05
|--E. murinaKK54
|--E. myrmecobiiDM91
|--E. octotrichaDM91
`--E. perilisD70
XenopsyllaGE05
|--X. astiaA71
|--X. bechuanaeSEC08
|--X. brasiliensisSEC08
|--X. cheopisGE05
|--X. cornigeraSEC08
|--X. cryptonellaSEC08
|--X. erilliSEC08
|--X. hamulaSEC08
|--X. nesiotes (Jordan & Rothschild 1908) [=Loemopsylla nesiotes]JG19
|--X. nubicaSEC08
|--X. philoxeraSEC08
|--X. pirieiSEC08
|--X. scopuliferSEC08
|--X. trifariaSEC08
|--X. versutaSEC08
`--X. vexabilisDM91
|--X. v. vexabilisD70
`--X. v. meserisD70
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[A71] Askew, R. R. 1971. Parasitic Insects. Heinemann Educational Books: London.
[B00] Bosc, C. 1800. Description d’une nouvelle espèce de puce (Pulex fasciatus). Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societé Philomathique de Paris 2 (44): 156.
Brinck-Lindroth, G., & F. G. A. M. Smit. 2007. The Fleas (Siphonaptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Brill.
[D70] Dunnet, G. M. 1970. Siphonaptera (fleas). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 647–655. Melbourne University Press.
[DM91] Dunnet, G. M., & D. K. Mardon. 1991. Siphonaptera (fleas). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 705–716. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).
[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.
[H82] Helmore, D. W. 1982. Drawings of New Zealand insects. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of New Zealand 8: 1–52.
[JG19] James, D. J., P. T. Green, W. F. Humphreys & J. C. Z. Woinarski. 2019. Endemic species of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Records of the Western Australian Museum 34 (2): 55–114.
[KP19] Kawahara, A. Y., D. Plotkin, M. Espeland, K. Meusemann, E. F. A. Toussaint, A. Donath, F. Gimnich, P. B. Frandsen, A. Zwick, M. dos Reis, J. R. Barber, R. S. Peters, S. Liu, X. Zhou, C. Mayer, L. Podsiadlowski, C. Storer, J. E. Yack, B. Misof & J. W. Breinholt. 2019. Phylogenomics reveals the evolutionary timing and pattern of butterflies and moths. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 116 (45): 22657–22663.
[K01] Kertész, K. 1901. Legyek [Dipteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 179–201. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.
[KK54] Klemmer, K., & H. E. Krampitz. 1954. Zur Kenntnis der Säugetierfauna Siziliens. Senckenbergiana Biologica 35 (3–4): 121–135.
[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis revised 10th ed. vol. 1. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.
[O86] Olliff, A. S. 1886. Description of a new aphanipterous insect from New South Wales. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (1): 171–172.
[R02] Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2002. Order Pulicida Billbergh, 1820. The fleas (=Aphaniptera). In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 240–242. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.
[SEC08] Shihepo, F., S. Eiseb & P. Cunningham. 2008. Fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) associated with small mammals in selected areas in northern Namibia. Journal Namibia Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft 56: 5–23.
[TW05] Terry, M. D., & M. F. Whiting. 2005. Mantophasmatodea and phylogeny of the lower neopterous insects. Cladistics 21: 240–257.