Subclass Pterygota:
Pterous (winged) insects, develop by metamorphosis
Division Endopterygota
(endo = inner; pteron = wing)
Mecopteroid orders
(mecos = length; pteron = wing)
Order Siphonaptera
(siphon = a tube; apteros = wingless)
COMMON NAME: Fleas
QUICK DESCRIPTION: Fleas are small, with very hard, flat bodies, no wings, tiny eyes, and very strong legs which they use for jumping (up to 12 inches, which is very far, considering most fleas are less than a quarter of an inch long). They are parasites, using their sucking mouthparts to feed on the blood of their hosts (dogs, cats, humans, birds.) Fleas lay eggs which hatch into pale larvae. The pupae wait in silk cocoons, sometimes for months or years, before they emerge as adults and attach themselves to another host.
MINUTE DETAIL: Small, wingless, laterally compressed, jumping ectoparasites of birds and mammals; head sessile without compound eyes, antennae short and lying in grooves, mouthparts of piercing and sucking type; coxae large, tarsi five-segmented; abdomen ten-segmented and bearing unsegmented cerci.
Larvae maggot-like. Pupae adecticous and exarate, enclosed in a cocoon.
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