How many teeth does a flea have? - briefly
Fleas lack true teeth; they have a piercing‑sucking proboscis with serrated stylets that function like tiny saws to cut skin. These adaptations enable blood feeding without chewing.
How many teeth does a flea have? - in detail
Fleas are wingless insects that feed on the blood of mammals and birds. Their oral apparatus is a highly specialized piercing‑sucking structure rather than a chewing apparatus. Consequently, they possess no true teeth. The feeding mechanism consists of the following components:
- A labrum that forms a sheath for the feeding tube.
- Paired maxillae and mandibles that are reduced to needle‑like stylets.
- The stylet tips are serrated, allowing the insect to cut through the host’s skin.
- A salivary canal that injects anticoagulant fluid while the blood is drawn up the dorsal canal.
The serrated edges of the stylets perform the function that teeth serve in other insects, but they are not counted as teeth in anatomical terms. Therefore, the insect lacks conventional dentition; its mouthparts are adapted exclusively for piercing and fluid uptake.