This article is from the WSSF 2016 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

Did You Know?  Christmas Island would have native rats today if it weren’t for the fleas on the Black rats introduced to the island in 1899. These fleas carried a pathogen that wiped out all the native rats in less than a decade. While the Black rats were adapted to the protozoa Trypanosoma lewisi, the native rats weren’t, and by 1908 all the native species were extinct.

Article Death By Hyperdisease: How DNA Detective Work Explains Extinction Of Christmas Island’s Native Rats on ScienceDaily.