Amblycera Explained

The Amblycera are a large clade of chewing lice,^[1] parasitic on both birds and mammals. The Amblycera are considered the most primitive clade of lice.

Description

These insects are very much like the familiar advanced sucking lice, except they do not stay on their host permanently. They roam freely over the surface of their host and, unlike other lice, do not form permanent attachments. They feed by chewing soft areas of skin, causing an area of localized bleeding from which they drink.

Species of this group have antennae but they cannot readily be seen because they lie in grooves in the side of the head. Usually the antennae of Amblycera composes 4-5 segments. The maxillary palps may, however, be present and these may be visible in mounted specimens but may be confused with the antennae. Palps of amblycerans ranges in segments from two to five. The mandibles of Amblycera bite horizontally. The head is often broader and rounder anteriorly than of Anoplura but this morphologic difference is not reliable. The tarsi of species that parasitise birds have two claws, while of those that parasitise mammals have one only.^[2]

Families

The Amblycera are divided into the following families:

• Ancistronidae
• Boopidae Mjoberg, 1910
• Colpocephalidae Eichler, 1937
• Gliricolidae
• Gyropidae Kellogg, 1896
• Laemobothriidae Mjoberg, 1910
• Menoponidae Mjoberg, 1910
• Pseudomenoponidae Mjoberg, 1910
• Ricinidae Neumann, 1890
• Somaphantidae Eichler, 1941
• Trimenoponidae
• Trinotonidae Eichler, 1941

Significant species

Notable Amblycera that parasitise birds:

• Holomenopon leucoxanthum (Burmeister, 1838)  - cause of "wet feathers" of ducks
• Menopon gallinae (Linnaeus, 1958)  - the "shaft louse" of poultry, pale yellow in color
• Menopon phaeostomum (Nitzsch, 1818)  - usually occurs on peafowl
• Menecanthus stramineus (Nitzsch, 1818)  - the yellow "body louse" of poultry
• Trinoton anserinum (J.C.Fabricus, 1805)  - may be found on ducks and swans

Notable species that parasitise mammals:

• Gliricola porcelli (Linnaeus, 1758)  - on guinea-pigs
• Gyropus ovalis (Nitzsch, 1818)  - on guinea-pigs
• Heterodoxus longitarsus (Piaget, 1880)  - on Macropodidae (wallabies and kangaroos)
• Heterodoxus macropus (Le Souef & Bullen, 1902)  - on Macropodidae
• Heterodoxus spiniger (Enderlein, 1909)  - common on dogs in warm countries (between latitudes 40° north and 40° south)
• Trimenopon hispidium (Burmeister, 1838)  - on guinea-pigs

Notes and References

1. de Moya. Robert S. Yoshizawa. Kazunori. Walden. Kimberly K O. Sweet. Andrew D. Dietrich. Christopher H. Kevin P. Johnson. 2021-06-16. Buckley. Thomas. Phylogenomics of Parasitic and Nonparasitic Lice (Insecta: Psocodea): Combining Sequence Data and Exploring Compositional Bias Solutions in Next Generation Data Sets. Systematic Biology. en. 70. 4. 719–738. 10.1093/sysbio/syaa075. 32979270 . 1063-5157. free.
2. Solsby, 1982