Introducing last week’s mystery louse, Haemodipsus ventricosus (Denny, 1842) (Anoplura: Polyplacidae)! This species is commonly found on wild and domesticated rabbits, with its distribution radiating from the Iberian peninsula with the spread of its host (Durden & Musser, 1994).
It appears that there have been a fair number of papers written about the ectoparasites of rabbits, including this species of lice. Observations of ectoparasites of live and skinned Australian Oryctolagus cuniculus found that the greatest numbers of these lice were found on individuals in late winter and early spring, and that the number of their eggs found on each rabbit did not correlate with the numbers of adult lice (Shepherd & Edmonds, 1973).
These rabbits are invasive in many parts of the world, and with their high fecundity, they compete with other native herbivorous mammals. This causes many countries to create plans for inhibiting their feral populations, such as the Australian Government’s Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities (2011). Due to the number of studies on the wild rabbits in Australia, it seems that they truly have an overabundance of rabbits and a dearth of predators for them. It is certainly possible the huge number of rabbits is enabling an excess of Haemodipsus ventricosus, as they have been able to become cosmopolitan with the spread of their host (Frank et al. 2013).
Stay tuned for the 40th episode of Friday Night Lice coming soon!
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