What is "laelaps"

Laelaps \L[ae]"laps\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ? a dark, furious storm.] (Paleon.) 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.

The name Laelaps is a name attributed to the following:

• Laelaps (mythology), a Greek mythological dog who never failed to catch what he was hunting
• Laelaps (mite), a genus of mites which are ectoparasites of rodents
• Laelaps (dinosaur), a dinosaur genus

Laelaps (, gen.: Λαίλαπος) (Lelaps, Lalaps, Lailaps) was a Greek mythological dog who never failed to catch what she was hunting. In one version of Laelaps' origin, she was a gift from Zeus to Europa. The hound was passed down to King Minos. Procris's husband, Cephalus, decided to use the hound to hunt the Teumessian fox, a fox that could never be caught. This was a paradox: a dog who always caught his prey versus a fox that could never be caught. The chase went on until Zeus, perplexed by their contradictory fates, turned both to stone and cast them into the stars as the constellations Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (the Teumessian fox).

At least one version of the Procris story asserts that Laelaps was a gift to her from the goddess Artemis.

Laelaps is a genus of common parasitic mites in the family Laelapidae. Species, with their hosts, include:

• Laelaps acuminata – Oecomys
• Laelaps agilis – Rattus
• Laelaps alaskensis – Blarina, Dicrostonyx, Lemmiscus, Lemmus, Microtus, Mustela, Myodes, Myotis, Napaeozapus, Ochrotomys, Ondatra, Onychomys, Parascalops, Peromyscus, Phenacomys, Poliocitellus, Sorex, Synaptomys, Thomomys
• Laelaps boultoni – Neacomys, Sigmodon, Oligoryzomys, Oecomys, Heteromys
• Laelaps castroi – Oligoryzomys
• Laelaps clethrionomydis – Microtus, Myodes
• Laelaps conula – Rhipidomys
• Laelaps crinigera – Oryzomyini
• Laelaps dearmasi – Zygodontomys
• Laelaps differens
• Laelaps echidnina – Rattus, Didelphis, Sigmodon, Mus, Peromyscus, Sylvilagus
• Laelaps evansi – Neofiber
• Laelaps exceptionalis – "wild rat"
• Laelaps flexa – Microryzomys
• Laelaps giganteus – Lemniscomys
• Laelaps incilis – Microtus, Neotamias, Peromyscus
• Laelaps kochi – Blarina, Corynorhinus, Dicrostonyx, Dipodomys, Glaucomys, Microtus, Mustela, Myodes, Napaeozapus, Neotamias, Neovison, Neurotrichus, Ondatra, Peromyscus, Phenacomys, Sigmodon, Sorex, Synaptomys, Tamias, Zapus
• Laelaps lavieri – Mus
• Laelaps lemmi – Lemmus
• Laelaps liberiensis – Mastomys
• Laelaps manguinhosi – Holochilus, Nectomys, Neusticomys, and various other mammals
• Laelaps mazzai – Calomys, Oligoryzomys
• Laelaps multispinosa – Castor, Didelphis, Microtus, Mustela, Neovison, Ondatra, Peromyscus, Procyon
• Laelaps muricola – Mastomys
• Laelaps muris – Microtus, Ondatra
• Laelaps navasi – Oryzomyini
• Laelaps nuttalli – Mus, Ochrotomys, Peromyscus, Rattus, Sciurus
• Laelaps ovata – Nephelomys
• Laelaps paulistanensis – Rhipidomys, Oryzomyini
• Laelaps pilifer – Oryzomyini
• Laelaps spicata – Oryzomyini
• Laelaps stupkai – Synaptomys
• Laelaps surcomata – Rhipidomys
• Laelaps thori

Unnamed or unidentified species have been reported on Gerbilliscus robustus and Acomys wilsoni in Tanzania and on the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) in Florida and Georgia.