Monday, June 10, 2013

Case of the Week 261

The following movie was generously donated by Dr. Sheldon Campbell and set to music by my husband (who was also responsible for naming the file the "creep of the week"):



Also on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJXQHwLIP3g

Identification?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the National Geographic sounding sound track accompanying! It seemes like the poor critter was trying to move but not a whole lot! Pediculus humanus (either coporis or capitis) - can't tell morphologically apart).

Anonymous said...

The dance of the human louse LOL!

Lee

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree with Lee: dancing Pediculus humanus, most likely a male specimen based on the morphology of the posterior part of the abdomen (rounded intead of being split).

Florida Fan

Anonymous said...

Poor thing! I agree with above. You could make a tentative argument for it being a head louse rather than a body louse as it's still alive. Body lice die very quickly off the host and I think head lice are slightly more resilient.

Vanessa

Richard Pollack, PhD said...

Pediculus for sure. If it was harvested from the scalp hair it would be a head louse; from the clothing, a body louse. There's much controversy as to whether these are two distinct species or variants of the same. They differ dramatically in terms of their biology, epidemiology, and public health significance. Adult head and body lice can often be distinguished based upon certain morphological differences. More insight about human lice is offered at IdentifyUS.

The video nicely displays the peristaltic waves by the louse's gut wall.