Oriental rat flea: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Oriental rat flea Xenopsylla cheopis

Where the Oriental rat flea lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Recorded in (GBIF)Representative wild record

Pin and shaded countries are approximate. The pin is a representative wild sighting (a central record among 48 open-licence GBIF records), not an official range. Method · Records on GBIF · See grasshoppers, bugs & other insects on the world map

Scientific name	Xenopsylla cheopis
Group	Grasshoppers, bugs & other insects
Found in	2 countries
Continents	Africa, Europe
Class	Insect
Order	Siphonaptera
Family	Pulicidae

Where does the Oriental rat flea live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Oriental rat flea in 2 countries and territories across Africa and Europe.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the Oriental rat flea?

The Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) is an insect in the order Siphonaptera and the family Pulicidae, genus Xenopsylla. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Oriental rat flea

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 the flea can live on any warm blooded mammal.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Oriental rat flea (revision 1379098728), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q499106 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).