Overview
This family has 12 genera, of which all but one,
Parapsyllus
, are Neotropical in distribution, mostly associated with rodents and other mammals.
Parapsyllus
has become associated with seabirds (especially penguins and petrels) and the genus has now diversified into many species, especially in the New Zealand subantarctic islands where they also infest ground-nesting parakeets. In Australia 2 species occur round the southern coast, and two others are known from Macquarie Is.