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Diagnosis | Pediculosis

Lab Animal volume 36, pages 18–19 (2007)Cite this article

We diagnosed the parasites as lice and the eggs glued to the hair shafts as nits. Lice are highly host-specific. The sucking lice (Polyplax serrata, Polyplax spinulosa) are typically parasitic on domestic mice and rats, which are murid rodents. In one report, Durden1 found a cross-familial infestation and collected P. spinulosa from the rice rat (Oryzomys palustris).

The louse body is ∼0.6–1.5 mm long, flattened dorsoventrally, and covered with genus- and species-specific bristles. These lice have no or only rudimentary eyes and their antennae consist of either five elements (adults) or three segments (juvenile)2. The legs of these ectoparasites each terminate in one or two claws that can be deflected towards a 'tibial thumb' to form a kind of clamp that enables the parasite to cling to hairs. In all lice of Polyplax species, the first pair of legs is typically smaller than the second and third pair3.

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Diagnosis | Pediculosis. Lab Anim 36, 18–19 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0307-18

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