Piagetiella

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Piagetiella
Piagetiella peralis (cropped).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Psocodea
Infraorder: Phthiraptera
Family: Menoponidae
Genus: Piagetiella
Neumann, 1906

Piagetiella, also known as the pelican and cormorant throat pouch lice, is a genus of parasitic lice in the family Menoponidae. [1]

Contents

Description

Piagetiella are parasitic lice that live within the throat pouches of pelicans and cormorants. They feed on blood and skin cells, and often gather in rosette shapes with their heads facing inwards. They can cause hemorrhaging, ulcers, and tissue damage in the oral cavities and pouches of their hosts. [2] Infestations may be transmitted from parent birds to their young when they feed them. Adult Piagetiella typically attach to an ulcer to feed, while secretions and excretions by larvae may cause necrosis and local inflammation. Because the lice occur within the pouch, hosts cannot remove them by preening. [3]

Species

Piagetiella contains the following species:

References

  1. ↑ "Piagetiella Neumann, 1906". World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  2. ↑ "Lice on Birds in Alberta" (PDF). open.alberta.ca.
  3. ↑ Overstreet, Robin M.; Curran, Stephen S. (2005). "Parasites of the American White Pelican" (PDF). Gulf and Caribbean Research. 17: 31–48. Bibcode:2005GCRes..17....4O. doi: 10.18785/gcr.1701.04 .
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Pelican and Cormorant Throat Pouch Lice (Genus Piagetiella)". iNaturalist. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
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