Hair pieces

Haarlinge is a name for a summary of various ectoparasitic jaw lice living on mammals from the suborders Amblycera and Ischnocera of the order of the animal lice (Phthiraptera). They differ from the also parasitic on mammals, Real animal lice of the suborder Anoplura that their mouthparts working biting-chewing, non-absorbent like the Anoplura; accordingly, they are not bloodsuckers . The corresponding parasites in birds are called featherlings . Hair lice and feather lice used to be grouped together to form the Mallophaga taxon.

description

Hair lice are an ecologically separate group, so they do not form a taxon in the zoological system , although all hair lice belong to the animal lice. In contrast to feather feathers (especially the Ischnocera), which mostly feed on young down feathers (main component: keratin ), hair feathers do not eat hair. They feed on their host's skin . Most Haarling species are highly host-specific, that is, they only live on a single host species, or on a few closely related host species. Accordingly, in the case of pets, for example, they cannot be transferred to other pets or to humans. Hair lice are far less species-rich than feather lice, they only make up about 12 percent of the species number of the jaw lice. Like all animal lice, hair lice lay eggs that are quite large in relation to their body size, known as nits, which they cement to their host's hair. The hatching nymphs resemble the sexually mature animals ( adults ) in appearance and way of life. All stages occur on the host, most species die after a few days when they are separated from the host. The transition to new host animals takes place almost exclusively through direct physical contact, often from parents to offspring. In some species, the females are significantly larger than the males ( sexual dimorphism ).

The suborder Rhynchophthirina (with the elephant louse Haematomyzus elephantis ), which comprises only three species, also lives on mammals , which, however, unlike hairy lice, feed on the blood of their hosts (elephants and warthogs).

Like all animal lice, hair lice are flattened, heavily sclerotized insects from top to bottom (dorsoventral). Hair lice can be easily distinguished from real animal lice (Anoplura) under a magnifying glass. The head of the hair pieces is widened, it is wider, or at least as wide as the first section of the trunk ( prothorax ). In contrast to featherlings, hairlings usually have only one claw on the foot links or tarsi (applies to all representatives of the Trichodectidae). The hairy lumps of domestic animals reach a body length of about 1 to 2 millimeters.

species

In the following list, a number of hair flies on European wild animals and domestic animals are compiled. So far, 27 species of hair liner have been identified in Germany

• Subordination Amblycera . Sister group of the Amblycera are probably the book lice of the family Liposcelididae, which belong to the dust lice, which presumably makes the animal lice paraphyletic .
  • Family Gyropidae
    • Gyropus ovalis Burmeister, 1838. Parasite of the domesticated house guinea pig , introduced with it from South America. Especially in the neck area.
  • Family Gliricolidae
    • Gliricola porcelli (cupboard, 1781). Parasite of the house guinea pig, introduced with it from South America. Especially in the pleura and peritoneum.
  • Family Trimenoponidae
    • Trimenopon hispidum (Burmeister, 1838). Parasite of the house guinea pig, introduced with it from South America. Especially in the neck area.
    • Pitrofquenia coypus Marelli, 1932. Parasite of nutria , introduced with it from South America.
• Subordination Isnocera
  • Family Trichodectidae , subfamily Trichodectinae
    • Trichodectes canis (De Geer, 1778). in domestic dogs (rarely on other canids).
    • Trichodectes melis (Fabricius, 1805). at the badger .
    • Stachiella retusa (Burmeister, 1838). in martens .
    • Eichlerella vulpis (Denny, 1842). at the red fox .
    • Felicola subrostratus (Burmeister, 1838), cat hairling. on domestic cats.
  • Family Trichodectidae, subfamily Bovicolinae (alternatively, some systematics also view it as a separate family Bovicolidae)
    • Bovicola bovis Linnaeus, 1758, with domestic cattle .
    • Bovicola caprae Gurlt, 1843. with domestic goats .
    • Bovicola limbatus (Gervais, 1844). with the domestic goat.
    • Bisonicola sedecimdecembrii (Eichler, 1946). in the bison .
    • Damalinia ovis (closet, 1781). on sheep ( domestic sheep and mouflon ).
    • Werneckiella equi (Denny, 1842). two subspecies of domestic horse and domestic donkey .
    • Rhabdopelidon longicornis (Nitzsch, 1818), on the red deer .

treatment

Hair lumps are combated in a similar way to ticks or fleas . Simply cutting off or shearing the hair significantly reduces the number of parasites. This not only reduces the number of parasites and destroys their habitat, but above all the stages of development (nits) are removed and thus their reproduction is interrupted. Careful washing of the whole body also reduces the infestation.

For treatment insecticides such as fipronil , imidacloprid , avermectins or propoxur used. The animal is treated at least twice with an interval of two to four weeks so that the parasite offspring is also killed.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eberhard Mey: Phthiraptera - animal lice or Lauskerfe. In: Bernhard Klausnitzer (Hrsg.): Stresemann - excursion fauna of Germany. Volume 2: Invertebrates: Insects. Spectrum Akademischer Verlag (Springer), 2011, ISBN 978-3-8274-2452-5 , on pages 156–157.
2. ↑ Kevin P. Johnson, Dale H. Clayton: The biology, ecology and evolution of chewing lice. In: RD Price, RA Hellenthal, RL Palma, KP Johnson, DH Clayton (eds.): The chewing lice. World checklist and biological overview. Illinois Natural History Survey Special Publication No. 24, pp. 449-476; darwin.biology.utah.edu (PDF).
3. ↑ Peter Deplazes, Johannes Eckert, Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Horst Zahner: Textbook of Parasitology for Veterinary Medicine. Thieme Verlag, 2012. ISBN 978-3-8304-1205-2 . Chapter 14.3.2: Order of Mallophaga. P. 433 ff.
4. ↑ E. Mey: Phthiraptera. In: Bernhard Klausnitzer (editor): Entomofauna Germanica 6. List of Protura, Collembola, Diplura, Ephemeroptera, Blattoptera, Psocoptera, Phthiraptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Psylloidea, Aleyrodoidea, Aphidina, Coccina, Heteriphoptera, Megoptera, Sidioptera, Strepsiptera, Raphaloptera Mecoptera of Germany. In: Entomological News and Reports. Supplement 8, 2003, pp. 1-344.
5. ↑ Kazunori Yoshizawa, Kevin P. Johnson: How stable is the "Polyphyly of Lice" hypothesis (Insecta: Psocodea) ?: A comparison of phylogenetic signal in multiple genes. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Volume 55, No. 3, 2010, pp. 939-951, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2010.02.026 .

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !