The infected fleas feed on rodent vectors of this bacterium, such as the black rat, " Rattus rattus ", and then infect human populations with the plague, as has happened repeatedly from ancient times, as in the Plague of Justinian in 541 542.
42.
A number of other small mammals have been identified as potential reservoirs : the lesser bandicoot rat ( " Bandicota bengalensis " ), the black rat ( " Rattus rattus brunneusculus " ) and the Asian house shrew ( " Suncus murinus " ).
43.
The former provides the birds with more habitat, while the cats have so far managed to keep Teraina completely free of black rats ( " Rattus rattus " ) which due to their tree-climbing habits would seriously jeopardize the species'existence, should they become established in numbers.
44.
These might have been black rats ( " Rattus rattus " ); as these were only temporarily present on Kiritimati and perhaps did not arrive until the 20th century, the feral cats which started to overrun the island in the 19th century make more likely culprits.
45.
It featured a version of the concert edited to highlight the songs from the TV series, interspersed with snippets of the classical pieces and specially-shot linking sketches set in and around the concert hall, including ones with Rattus Rattus explaining the a historical link to certain pieces.
46.
It is unclear whether it survived after facing threats from the early introduction of black rats ( " Rattus rattus " ) by the first European settlers around 1500, although it may have been finally wiped out by introduced mongooses in the nineteenth or early 20th century.
47.
Traditionally pacific rats ( " Rattus exulans " ), Norway rats ( " Rattus norveigucus " ), ship rats ( " Rattus rattus " ) cats, ferrets, stoats, and weasels were all considered to be the main culprits in the decline of native species of New Zealand birds, reptiles and insects.
48.
Others have highlighted high rates of nest depredation by invasive mammals including the small Indian mongoose ( " Herpestes auropunctatus "; additional common names : small Asian mongoose, Javan mongoose, marsh mongoose ) ( Hays and Conant 2007, Veron et al . 2007 ) and black rat ( " Rattus rattus " ) ( Townsend 2006 ).
49.
The species names of common animals are often identical to their genus names ( as with " Rattus rattus " or " Bufo bufo " ), but this form of designation ( known as a tautonym ) is forbidden for plants and fungi by the International Code of Nomenclature . " Melanoleuca melaleuca " narrowly circumvents this rule.
50.
When the black rat ( " Rattus rattus ) " first came to the Faroes is unclear, but it is given the blame for having spread the plague, the Black death in 1349, since then there have been several reports of the rat going extinct in part or in whole across the archipelago, only to return at later dates.
