Hectopsylla
genus of fleas
Hectopsylla is a genus of fleas in the family Hectopsyllidae that parasitize non-volant mammals, birds, and bats. The genus comprises thirteen species, six of which were described in whole or part by Karl Jordan between 1906–1942. Two of the species in Hectopsylla, H. psittaci and H. pulex, go under common names, with H. psittaci identified as the sticktight flea and H. pulex identified as the chiggerflea. Hastritter and Méndez (2000) consider the genus Rhynchopsyllus a junior synonym of the genus.
Taxonomy
Hastritter and Méndez (2000) state that Rhynchopsyllus is a junior synonym of Hectopsylla. The type species, by monotypy, is H. psittaci.
Species
There are thirteen species in the genus Hectopsylla.
Hectopsylla broscus (Jordan & Rothschild, 1906)
H. broscus is described as similar to H. coniger, but the bristles of the head are longer, with the proportion of the second segment of the maxillary palpus to the fourth segment being 7:11 in H. broscus and 8:10 in H. coniger. The angle of its frons were described as strongly rounded. In the thorax, the metasternite and pro-processes are narrower, with the meta-thoracic epimerum having three bristles, but rarely four or two.
“Hectopsylla” enters the record as genus of fleas. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hectopsylla, genus and fleas can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hectopsylla” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hectopsylla, genus and fleas provides the most credible route into that argument.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4040508. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1906, 1942 and 2000.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hectopsylla” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.