Human lice
| Human lice | ||||||||||||
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Head louse ( Pediculus humanus capitis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Pediculidae | ||||||||||||
| Leach , 1815 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Pediculus | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The human lice ( Pediculidae) are a family within the animal lice (Phthiraptera). In today's view, it comprises only one genus, Pediculus . Like all real animal lice (Anoplura), human lice are blood-sucking parasites . Your stings are made with the long proboscis and produce itchy wheals . The development time from egg to sexual maturity takes about 25 days in the animals, the adults live about 30 days.
Assignment
The genus Pediculus comprises three species, all of which parasitize primate species.
- Human louse ( Pediculus humanus ), with two subspecies
- Clothes louse ( Pediculus humanus humanus )
- Head louse ( Pediculus humanus capitis )
- Pediculus schaeffi Fahrenholz, 1910. Parasite on chimpanzee species (genus Pan )
- Pediculus mjobergi Ferris, 1916 (synonym Pediculus affinis Mjöberg, 1910, nec Burmeister, 1839). Parasite on New World monkeys in the Cebidae family
According to estimates using the molecular clock method, Pediculus humanus , the human louse , and Pediculus schaeffi split up about six million years ago; this corresponds in order of magnitude to the time since the split of their host species Homo and Pan or their respective parent group. Pediculus mjobergi is both morphologically and genetically very similar to the human louse . It seems very likely that their ancestors passed from humans to monkeys only after humans immigrated to South America, possibly from domesticated and domesticated monkeys that escaped to freedom.
The genus Pediculus is (in the current view) the only genus of the Pediculidae family. Sister group of Pediculidae is the family of Pthiridae with the only genus Pthirus , with the pubic louse Pthirus pubis of humans.
Human lice as a disease vector
The head louse and the clothing louse can transmit various pathogens . For details and therapy, see the individual species.
literature
Article base
- Brett Olds et al .: Comparison of the transcriptional profiles of head and body lice. In: Insect Molecular Biology , Volume 21, No. 2, 2012, pp. 257-268, DOI: 10.1111 / j.1365-2583.2012.01132.x ; see: Head and body lice appear to be the same species, genetic study finds.
Continuing
- Denise L. Bonilla, Lance A. Durden, et al. a .: The Biology and Taxonomy of Head and Body Lice. Implications for Louse-Borne Disease Prevention. In: PLoS Pathogens. 9, 2013, p. E1003724, doi : 10.1371 / journal.ppat.1003724 .
- Hermann Schelenz : On the history of the lice plague. In: Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift , New Series (Leipzig), February 20, 1916.
Individual evidence
- ↑ David L Reed, Jessica E Light, Julie M Allen, Jeremy J. Kirchman (2007): Pair of lice lost or parasites regained: the evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice. BMC Biology 2007: 5: 7 doi: 10.1186 / 1741-7007-5-7 (open access)
- ↑ Rezak Drali, Laurent Abi-Rached, Amina Boutellis, Félix Djossou, Stephen C. Barker, Didier Raoult (2016): Host switching of human lice to new world monkeys in South America. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 39: 225-231. doi: 10.1016 / j.meegid.2016.02.008
Web links
- University of Würzburg ( Memento from July 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ): Overview on the subject of lice (in English)