| Pediculus humanus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Head louse, P. humanus capitis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Psocodea |
| Family: | Pediculidae |
| Genus: | Pediculus |
| Species: | P. humanus |
| Binomial name | |
| Pediculus humanus | |
Pediculus humanus is a species of louse that infects humans. It comprises two subspecies: [1] [2]
Louse is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result of developments in phylogenetic research.
Sucking lice have around 500 species and represent the smaller of the two traditional superfamilies of lice. As opposed to the paraphyletic chewing lice, which are now divided among three suborders, the sucking lice are monophyletic.
Pediculosis is an infestation of lice from the sub-order Anoplura, family Pediculidae. Accordingly, the infestation with head lice is named pediculosis capitis, while this with body lice, pediculosis corporis. Although pediculosis in humans may properly refer to lice infestation of any part of the body, the term is sometimes used loosely to refer to pediculosis capitis, the infestation of the human head with the specific head louse.
The head louse is an obligate ectoparasite of humans. Head lice are wingless insects that spend their entire lives on the human scalp and feed exclusively on human blood. Humans are the only known hosts of this specific parasite, while chimpanzees and bonobos host a closely related species, Pediculus schaeffi. Other species of lice infest most orders of mammals and all orders of birds.
Trench fever is a moderately serious disease transmitted by body lice. It infected armies in Flanders, France, Poland, Galicia, Italy, Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Russia and Egypt in World War I. Three noted cases during WWI were the authors J. R. R. Tolkien, A. A. Milne, and C. S. Lewis. From 1915 to 1918 between one-fifth and one-third of all British troops reported ill had trench fever while about one-fifth of ill German and Austrian troops had the disease. The disease persists among the homeless. Outbreaks have been documented, for example, in Seattle and Baltimore in the United States among injection drug users and in Marseille, France, and Burundi.
Brill–Zinsser disease is a delayed relapse of epidemic typhus, caused by Rickettsia prowazekii. After a patient contracts epidemic typhus from the fecal matter of an infected louse, the rickettsia can remain latent and reactivate months or years later, with symptoms similar to or even identical to the original attack of typhus, including a maculopapular rash. At such times, typhus can be transmitted to other individuals through fecal matter of the louse vector, and generate a new epidemic of the disease.
Strigiphilus garylarsoni is a species of chewing louse found only on owls. The species has no common name.
The treatment of human lice is the removal of head lice parasites from human hair. It has been debated and studied for centuries. However, the number of cases of human louse infestations has increased worldwide since the mid-1960s, reaching hundreds of millions annually. There is no product or method that assures 100% destruction of the eggs and hatched lice after a single treatment. However, there are a number of treatment modalities that can be employed with varying degrees of success. These methods include chemical treatments, natural products, combs, shaving, hot air, and silicone-based lotions.
Relapsing fever is a vector-borne disease caused by infection with certain bacteria in the genus Borrelia, which is transmitted through the bites of lice or soft-bodied ticks.
The body louse is a hematophagic ectoparasite louse that infests humans. It is one of three lice which infest humans, the other two being the head louse, and the crab louse or pubic louse.
Rheomys raptor, also known as the Goldman's water mouse or Goldman's Ichthyomyine, is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. This mouse is semiaquatic and its carnivorous diet includes invertebrates. The conservation status of the species is rated as "least concern" because of its sizable population and the presence of several protected areas within its range. However, deforestation and water pollution represent potential threats.
Psoroptes is a genus of mites, including the agents that cause psoroptic mange.
Musca vetustissima, commonly known as the Australian bush fly, is a species of fly found in Australia. It is the specific fly that has given rise to the expression "Aussie salute".
Pediculosis corporis or Vagabond's disease is a cutaneous condition caused by body lice that lay their eggs in the seams of clothing.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus classified the arthropods, including insects, arachnids and crustaceans, among his class "Insecta". Wingless arthropods were brought together under the name Aptera.
Tyrophagus putrescentiae is a cosmopolitan mite species. Together with the related species T. longior, it is commonly referred to as the mould mite or the cheese mite. The genus name translates from Greek to "cheese eater."
Knemidokoptes is a genus of parasitic mites in the family Epidermoptidae that infect the skin or feather follicles of birds, especially gallinaceous birds as well as parakeets and canaries. Infection commonly causes scaly lesions to form at the face or feet, which is known as knemidocoptiasis.
Pediculus is a genus of sucking lice, the sole genus in the family Pediculidae. Pediculus species are ectoparasites of primates.
Colpocephalum is a genus of chewing louse. Christian Ludwig Nitzsch named the genus in 1818. The Plenary Powers of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature selected Colpocephalum zebraBurmeister, 1838 as its type species in the 1950s. There are approximately 135 species in this genus, and they are ectoparasites of birds in at least a dozen different orders.
Anisomorpha ferruginea is a species in the family Pseudophasmatidae, in the order Phasmatodea ("walkingsticks"). Common names include "northern two-striped walkingstick", "dark walkingstick", and "prairie alligator". Anisomorpha ferruginea is found in North America. This insect can spray a defensive mist that contains a terpene dialdehyde.
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