Flea

The flea is a bug in the introduced in. They can be found on villagers from spring to early winter. In, fleas are more common than they are in the previous Animal Crossing games. They appear as black, hopping specks.

When villagers have fleas, their catchphrase changes to one of a variety of catchphrases, such as "eesh itchy," "scritch," or "yowiezowie," which indicates that they are itchy. This catchphrase changes each time it is used in dialogue. Once the flea has been caught, the villager that played host to it will give a response, usually one of denial, shock, or gratitude, depending on their personality.

In
In, fleas cannot appear on alligator, anteater, duck, elephant, frog, hippo, octopus, penguin, or rhinoceros villagers. They also cannot appear on villagers with normal or snooty personalities.

In
In, fleas have their own spawning system separate from the standard bug spawning system. They will not be able to spawn on a villager if: If a flea is able to be spawned, they have a 0.5% or 1.0% chance of spawning in the game.
 * A flea has spawned on a villager.
 * A flea previously spawned within the last 60 minutes.
 * The player has not completed the prologue by sleeping on their during their first day.
 * There is an event or a villager's birthday ongoing.
 * K.K. Slider is present on the island.
 * The current date is not at least 7 days past a certain date (likely the creation of the island).
 * None of the villagers present on the player's island are valid for a flea to spawn.

Donating to the museum
As with all insects in the, the flea can be donated to the museum, followed by a small talk by Blathers, the curator.

In
When donating to Blathers in, he will provide the following information about the bug:

The flea can be found near the pond in the first room of the insect exhibit after donation.

In
When donating to Blathers in, he will provide the following information about the bug:

Once donated, fleas appear as a barely-visible speck, bouncing around on the path on the central terrace in the insect exhibit.

In
The flea can be found bouncing around on the upper-left room of the bug exhibit. The following description is given to them:

In
Once donated, the flea can be found at the bug exhibit's laboratory, under a magnifying lens. When donating to Blathers or selecting "Tell me about this!" in, he will provide the following information about the bug:

Trivia

 * In, if two villagers are talking to each other, but one of them has a flea. If the player chooses to talk to the one with a flea. The conversation between the two villagers will be cancelled, and the villager will instead complain to the player about how they are itchy.

Real-world information
The human flea, Pulex irritans, is a widespread species of flea that is thought to have originated from South America. Despite the name, they are found on all manner of birds and mammals, including dogs, pigs, chickens, monkeys, and even some species of bat. They have powerful legs that can be used to jump incredible heights: roughly 200 times their body length.

Fleas feed on blood. After feeding, females lay eggs on the skin or hair of the host animal. A single flea can have over 500 offspring in its lifetime, which live in the host's bedding feeding on dust and dried blood excreted by their parents after feeding.