The word “lousy” is used to describe something bad because it originally meant “infested with lice”, which I suppose would be an unpleasant thing. By the “lousiest” in the title, I also mean “filled with lice”. However, “My fantastic past week” would be an acceptably interchangeable title. With my project in need of the capture of a live gasteruptiid wasp, and me failing to catch one (no longer an issue – thanks Brian!), I undertook the task of profiling and cataloging the K.C. Kim Louse Collection at the Frost, knowing next to nothing about lice except for an outdated conception of louse taxonomy and even less about their hosts.
So here’s a condensed version of all the Phthirapterally phthrilling phthings I’ve learned in the past week, about lice in general and K.C. Kim’s collection. I’ll start off with some impressive figures about the collection.
- All four suborders are represented in more than 15,000 slides and around 390 species
- There are lice from every continent. Even Antarctica!
- The oldest specimen is around 400 years old!
- Over half of the approximately 500 known species of Anoplura, or sucking lice, are present.
Sure, lice have some pretty disgusting habits by human standards. But what I’ve come to appreciate is how successful they are at the ectoparasitic lifestyle and how well adapted they’ve become to their hosts (and sometimes specific parts of their host). Look at the differences in the tarsal claws in these images – if they cling to hair or feathers, they grasp it between the tarsal claw and an extension of the tibia. If they don’t cling to hair or feathers, their legs look like a typical insect leg (like the image below).
If you’re still not crazy about lice… they’re sometimes mounted on slides in a way that looks like they want hugs!
After all that I’ve definitely been inspired to go on a mission to collect my first louse!
Andy Deans says
Awesome post! I’m especially impressed with the pinniped lice. Check out the vestiture! Those things look intense. It amazes me that so few people seem to be working on lice … the sucking variety, anyway. An easy place to collect lice, historically anyway, is the student health center! We have hundreds of slides of specimens—of P. pubis anyway—collected from PSU students, though most are from the 1970s. Hmmm … Alternatively you can follow my kids around for a couple of years. They’re bound to pick up P. humanus capitis at some point.
Hannah Stout says
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. KIM!!!
Ke Chung Kim says
Dear Hannah:
Thanks. I cannot believe that I have lived to see the 80th year of my life! Your blog reminds me of my old days in Montana and Minnesota for graduate education, Penn State for my science, academia, and humanity, and social media for biodiversity and human sustainability. I am proud of your accomplishments too. Hope to see you soon.
K. C. Kim
Hannah Stout says
the AMAZING Frost staff deserve all the credit for this blog–I’m just an adoring visitor to this site. regardless…thanks, Dr. Kim! hope to see you soon, too!