Pthirus gorillae

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Pthirus gorillae
Pthirus gorillae.jpg
A magnified image of Pthirus gorillae
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Psocodea
Family: Pthiridae
Genus: Pthirus
Species:
P. gorillae
Binomial name
Pthirus gorillae
Ewing, 1927

Pthirus gorillae or gorilla louse is a species of parasitic sucking louse that afflicts gorillas. [1] It is found in the African continent, specifically in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo. [2] P. gorillae and P. pubis (the crab louse) are the only known species that belong to the genus Pthirus , often incorrectly spelled as Phthirus (the Greek word for louse is phthir). [3] It is suggested that it is transmitted among its hosts by social grooming, shared bedding and sexual contact. [4]

All species of sucking lice feed on blood. [5] They live in close association with their hosts and complete their entire life cycle on the host. [1] Pthirus gorillae infests the same parts of the bodies of gorillas as Pthirus pubis does in humans, [6] but since the gorilla is hairier, the lice tend to range over the whole body. [7] The two also resemble each other with the exception that Pthirus gorillae has large eyes that are placed on large lateral protuberances. A short and broad sucking louse, it is about 2.20 mm long with sprawling legs and not more than 20 small abdominal setae. [4]

It was first identified from specimens of mountain gorillas in 1927 by Henry Ellsworth Ewing during a game-hunting trip in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [4] Molecular phylogenetics suggest that P. gorillae jumped from gorillas to early humans 3.3 million years ago and diverged into the present-day pubic louse. [1] [8] Researchers theorize that humans acquired the parasite while butchering or scavenging on gorilla carcasses, or sleeping in the abandoned sleeping nests of gorillas. [9] [10]

Several lice of the species were found during a necropsy in the stomach of a female gorilla from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park; she had presumably been grooming before she died. [4]

The conservation status of this species is unknown. Since its host species is critically endangered, it is likely that this species is endangered too.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louse</span> Order of insects

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sucking louse</span> Suborder of insects

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crab louse</span> Species of insect

The crab louse or pubic louse is an insect that is an obligate ectoparasite of humans, feeding exclusively on blood. The crab louse usually is found in the person's pubic hair. Although the louse cannot jump, it can also live in other areas of the body that are covered with coarse hair, such as the perianal area, the entire body, and the eyelashes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pubic hair</span> Body hair in the genital region

Pubic hair is terminal body hair that is found in the genital area and pubic region of adolescent and adult humans. The hair is located on and around the sex organs, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the thighs, even extending down the perineum, and to the anal region. Pubic hair is also found on the scrotum and base of the penile shaft and on the vulva. Around the pubis bone and the mons pubis that covers it, it is known as a pubic patch, which can be styled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pediculosis</span> Medical condition

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head louse</span> Insect parasite of humans

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain gorilla</span> Subspecies of the eastern gorilla

The mountain gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN as of 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bwindi Impenetrable National Park</span> National park in Uganda

The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a national park in southwestern Uganda. It is part of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and is situated along the Democratic Republic of the Congo border next to the Virunga National Park and on the edge of the Albertine Rift. Composed of 321 km2 (124 sq mi) of both lowland and montane forest, it is accessible only on foot. It is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-designated World Heritage Site.

A bird louse is any chewing louse of order Phthiraptera which parasitizes warm-blooded animals, especially birds. Bird lice may feed on feathers, skin, or blood. They have no wings, and their biting mouth parts distinguish them from true lice, which suck blood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Uganda</span>

The wildlife of Uganda is composed of its flora and fauna. Uganda has a wide variety of different habitats, including mountains, hills, tropical rainforest, woodland, freshwater lakes, swamps and savanna with scattered clumps of trees. The country has a biodiverse flora and fauna reflecting this range of habitats and is known for its primates, including gorillas and chimpanzees. There are ten national parks and thirteen wildlife reserves; some 345 species of mammal and 1020 species of bird have been recorded in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Use of DNA in forensic entomology</span>

Forensic entomology has three sub-fields: urban, stored product and medico-criminal entomologies. This article focuses on medico-criminal entomology and how DNA is analyzed with various blood-feeding insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism in Uganda</span>

Tourism in Uganda is focused on Uganda's landscape and wildlife. It is a major driver of employment, investment and foreign exchange, contributing USh 4.9 trillion to Uganda's GDP in the financial year 2012–2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head lice infestation</span> Medical condition

Head lice infestation, also known as pediculosis capitis, is the infection of the head hair and scalp by the head louse. Itching from lice bites is common. During a person's first infection, the itch may not develop for up to six weeks. If a person is infected again, symptoms may begin much more quickly. The itch may cause problems with sleeping. Generally, however, it is not a serious condition. While head lice appear to spread some other diseases in Africa, they do not appear to do so in Europe or North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka</span> Ugandan scientist

Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a Ugandan veterinarian and founder of Conservation Through Public Health, an organisation dedicated to the coexistence of endangered mountain gorillas, other wildlife, humans, and livestock in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pediculosis pubis</span> Infestation by the pubic louse

Pediculosis pubis is an infestation by the pubic louse, Pthirus pubis, a wingless insect which feeds on blood and lays its eggs (nits) on mainly pubic hair. Less commonly, hair near the anus, armpit, beard, eyebrows, moustache, and eyelashes may be involved. It is usually acquired during sex, but can be spread via bedding, clothing and towels, and is more common in crowded conditions where there is close contact between people.

<i>Pthirus</i> Genus of lice

Pthirus is a genus of lice. There are only two extant species, and they are the sole known members of the family Pthiridae. Pthirus gorillae infests gorillas, and Pthirus pubis afflicts humans, and is commonly known as the crab louse or pubic louse. The two species diverged some 3.3 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bwindi Impenetrable Forest</span> Forest of Uganda

The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a large primeval forest located in south-western Uganda and is located in three districts of Kisoro, Kabale and Kanungu. The Bwindi forest is on the edge of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, at elevations ranging from 1,160 to 2,607 metres. The forest contains around 160 species of trees and over 100 species of ferns. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Reserve was set up in 1942 on the rim of the Rift Valley.

Lemurpediculus robbinsi is an ectoparasite of Crossley's dwarf lemur, Cheirogaleus crossleyi A. Grandidier, in Madagascar. Both sexes of the louse species are distinct from the two previously known species of Lemurpediculus, L. verruculosus (Ward) and L. petterorum Paulian.

Colpocephalum californici, the California condor louse, is an extinct species of chewing louse which parasitized the California condor. In an example of coextinction, it became extinct when the remaining, Critically Endangered California condors were deloused and treated with pesticides during a captive breeding program.

Nakedness and clothing use are characteristics of humans related by evolutionary and social prehistory. The major loss of body hair distinguishes humans from other primates. Current evidence indicates that anatomically modern humans were naked in prehistory for at least 90,000 years before they invented clothing. Today, isolated Indigenous peoples in tropical climates continue to be without clothing in many everyday activities.

References

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  2. "Pthirus gorillae Ewing, 1927". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  3. Robert Frederick Harwood; Maurice Theodore James (1979). Entomology in human and animal health . Macmillan. p.  130. ISBN   978-0-02-351600-9.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Jessica M. Rothman; Dwight D. Bowman; Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka; John Bosco Nkurunungi (2006). "The Parasites of the Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Uganda". In Nicholas E. Newton-Fisher; Hugh Notman; James Durward Paterson (eds.). Primates of Uganda. Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 171–192. ISBN   978-0-387-32342-8.
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  6. Robert S. Anderson; Richard Beatty; Stuart Church (2003). "Sucking louse". Volume 5. Harvester ant–Leaf-cutting ant . Insects and Spiders of the World. Marshall Cavendish. pp. 520–523. ISBN   978-0-7614-7339-8.
  7. Sydney Harold Skaife; Anthony Bannister (1979). African Insect Life. C. Struik. p. 83. ISBN   978-0-86977-087-0.
  8. May R. Berenbaum (2009). "The Domesticated Crab Louse". The Earwig's Tail: A Modern Bestiary of Multi-legged Legends. Harvard University Press. pp. 24–28. ISBN   978-0-674-03540-9.
  9. Roxanne Khamsi (7 March 2007). "Pubic lice leapt from gorillas to early humans". New Scientist.
  10. Jesse Bering (1 March 2010). "A bushel of facts about the uniqueness of human pubic hair". Bering in Mind. Scientific American . Retrieved 30 September 2010.