this stage, the flea does not drink blood; instead it eats dead skin cells, flea droppings, and other smaller parasites lying around them in the dust. When the larva is mature it makes a silken cocoon around itself and pupates. The flea remains a pupa from one week to six months changing in a process called metamorphosis. When the flea emerges, it begins the final cycle, called the adult stage. A flea can now suck blood from hosts and mate with other fleas. A single female flea can mate once and lay eggs every day with up to 50 eggs per day. Experimentally, it has been shown that the fleas flourish in dry climatic conditions with temperatures of , they can live up to a year and can stay in the cocoon stage for up to a year if the conditions are not favourable. History The Oriental rat flea was collected in Shendi, Sudan by Charles Rothschild along with Karl Jordan and described in 1903. He named it cheopis after the Cheops pyramids. Disease transmission This species can act as a vector for plague, Yersinia pestis, Rickettsia typhi and also act as a host for the tapeworms Hymenolepis diminuta and Hymenolepis nana. Diseases can be transmitted from one generation of fleas to the next through the eggs. Gallery References External links Pulicidae Rodent-carried diseases Insect vectors of animal pathogens Insect vectors of human pathogens Parasites of rodents Insects described in 1903