There are 16 different families of fleas worldwide, consisting of about 2380 species. In Australia 9 of these families are represented with just 90 different species. About half of the endemic species that occur in Australia are found in the Pygiopsyllidae family. The Pulicidae family contains many of the introduced fleas such as the cat, dog and human flea, as well as some native species. Follow the links below to find out more about the different families of fleas. Those in bold represent the flea families present in Australia.

For flea species visit the Australian Insect Common Names