Oriental rat flea
| Oriental rat flea | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Siphonaptera |
| Family: | Pulicidae |
| Genus: | Xenopsylla |
| Species: | X. cheopis |
| Binomial name | |
| Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild, 1903) | |
The Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis), also known as the tropical rat flea or the rat flea, is a parasite of rodents, primarily of the genus Rattus, and is a primary vector for plague and murine typhus. This occurs when a flea that has fed on an infected rodent bites a human, although this flea can live on any warm blooded mammal.