Looking for a specimen?
The siphonaptera collection is being digitised
Siphonaptera collections
Hystrichopsylla talpae talpae, mole flea
The flea collection is large and of great historical importance.
Collection strengths
The collection contains an estimated at 260,000 Siphonaptera specimens representing 73 per cent of the 2,587 described species and subspecies of fleas, including 925 primary types.
Material type
The bulk of the specimens are mounted on microscope slides. The remainder are stored in fluid.
Geographical range
The geographical range of the flea collection is worldwide.
Rothschild collection
At the centre of the Siphonaptera collection is the Rothschild collection given to the Museum as a deed of gift in 1913. It was not registered as Museum property until 1923, when Charles Rothschild died.
The seven volume Catalogue of the Rothschild Collection of Fleas was published by the British Museum of Natural History between 1953 and 1987.
Any Questions?
If you would like to use any specimens for research, please get in touch.
Senior curator
Important historical collections
Rothschild collection
Specimens
260,000
Type specimens
925
Dressed fleas made in Mexico in 1905
Flea illustration by Robert Hooke taken from Micrographia a physiological description of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses (1665)
Ctenocephalides canis, dog flea
Collections on the move
Access to some collections will be affected as we prepare for the move to our new collections, science and digitisation centre.
Accessing the collections
Scientists and collections management specialists can visit the collections and borrow specimens for research.
Collections management
Our duty is to provide a safe and secure environment for all of our collections.