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Photo#1919628
Giant flea in south coastal BC

Giant flea in south coastal BC
Gambier Island near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
June 20, 2015
Size: 5mm
Found crawling in my scalp; we see perhaps one of these per year (thankfully) but they are remarkably large relative to the tiny fleas that crawl around on our dogs and cats. The specimen is preserved in 95% ethanol. We live in the forest.

Images of this individual: tag all
Giant flea in south coastal BC Giant flea in south coastal BC

Possibly a Hystrichopsylla species
Hi! I can't see all the details necessary for a good ID, but your specimen does have genal and pronotal combs of spines (dark spines that look like a mustache and collar) and it is quite large, so I think it is likely a Hystrichopsylla species. It is unlikely to be a mountain beaver flea (Hystrichopsylla schefferi), though, because those are even larger (8mm long or longer). If you want to send me a specimen though, I'd be happy to take a look.
Yours,
Bill Gerth

Moved for expert attention
Moved from ID Request.

We don't get many of these taken beyond order, but there's always hope. There are at least a couple of large species found in your area. See here and here.

Welcome to BugGuide!

 
Giant flea
My hunch is the Mountain Beaver flea (Hystrichopsylla sp.) based on the comb like structure on the anterior part of the head (is that the genae, or gula?). I'm trying to have this record submitted to our local zoogeography site at UBC (E-Flora/e-Fauna) but they can't accept records of inverts without an ID confirmed by a professional/qualified taxonomist. They suggested BugGuide. Thanks for accepting this!

 
If you haven't already...
...you might also consider posting to iNaturalist (inaturalist.org). It's always possible that a flea specialist will see it there.

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