| laelaps | <paleontology> A genus of huge, carnivorous, dinosaurian reptiles from the Cretaceous formation of the United States. They had very large hind legs and tail, and are supposed to have been bipedal. Some of the species were about eighteen feet high. Origin: NL, fr. Gr. A dark, furious storm. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| Laelaps echidninus | The spiny rat mite, a common worldwide ectoparasite of the wild Norway rat and occasionally found on the house mouse, cotton rat, and other rodents; it is the natural vector of Hepatozoon muris and can transmit the agent of tularaemia experimentally. Junin virus has been isolated from this species in South America. (05 Mar 2000) |