Re: Of lice and men

Rich Travsky <traRvEsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Gerrit Hanenburg wrote:

Reed, D.L. et al. 2007. Pair of lice lost or parasites regained: the
evolutionary history of anthropoid primate lice. BMC Biology 5:7
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1828715

An interesting paper on the cospeciation of hominoids and their
phthirapteran parasites.
(and devastating to AAT of course ;-) )


Isn't this kinda old (but still interesting and welcome) news?

The article was from earlier this year. Apparently I wasn't around
when it was discussed here.

Anyway, the point is that "the sucking lice are essentially
terrestrial insects", as stated by Kim and Emerson in their
description of Latagophthirus rauschi, (Kim & Emerson 1974).
The Echinophthiriidae are the only exception. The lice of this family
live on (semi)aquatic carnivores (pinnipeds and mustelids). As such
they are highly specialised (e.g. spiracular structure with elongated
atrial tube and sophisticated closing apparatus).
The primate lice of the families Pthiridae and Pediculidae have no
such adaptations. Given that hominids have been host to two species
(Pediculus humanus & Pthirus pubis) from these families for the last
3.5 myr is an indication they were never particularly aquatic in that
period.

Kim, K.C. & Emerson, K.C. 1974. Latagophthirus rauschi, new genus and
new species (Anoplura: Echinophthiriidae) from the river otter
(Carnivora: Mustelidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 11: 442-446.

Gerrit
.

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