Stick-tight-flea

Guides

• Hectopsylla

  A genus of stick-tight fleas in the family Tungidae, comprising thirteen species that parasitize non-volant mammals, birds, and bats. The genus was established by Von Frauenfeld in 1860, with H. psittaci as the type species. Several species were described by Karl Jordan between 1906 and 1942. The genus exhibits specialized host attachment behaviors, with females of some species becoming permanently embedded in host skin.

  fleaectoparasiteTungidaeSiphonapterastick-tight-fleabat-parasitebird-parasitemammal-parasiteneotropicalpermanent-attachmentautotomysessile-female

• Hectopsylla pulex

  chigger flea, stick-tight flea

  Hectopsylla pulex is a stick-tight flea and the only member of its genus known to parasitize bats. Females attach permanently to the head region of bats, particularly the ears and tragus, where they feed to repletion, become gravid, and die in situ. This species exhibits a unique reproductive strategy involving autosevering of legs upon host attachment and abdominal expansion through mechanical design rather than true neosomy. Males have never been found attached to hosts and are collected exclusively from bat guano, suggesting pre-host copulation occurs. The species is widely distributed across the Neotropics with records from Brazil, Panama, Colombia, Texas, and Arizona.

  Siphonapterafleabat-parasiteectoparasiteneotropicalpermanent-attachmentautoseveringchigger-fleastick-tight-fleaRhopalopsyllidae