Week 36’s mystery lice, which was posted on the blog a couple weeks ago, are particularly vibrant specimens. I was too busy presenting at the Entomological Collections Network Annual Meeting and attending Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting-more on that later-to post the answer earlier this week. Today, I want to solve the lice mystery!
![Microscopic image of two lice.](https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5626/22080513852_03fa49aa22.jpg)
The lice collected on the Cape ground squirrel are Linognathoides faurei (Bedford, 1920) (Anoplura: Polyplacidae). These lice are distinguished by their many abdominal seta, anterior claws bifid at the apex, elongated, irregular sternal plates, and claw-like projections on the genital plate (Bedford 1920).
![A ground squirrel coming out of its burrow in the ground.](https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3318/3610285521_6ab094d1b4.jpg)
This species of lice has been known to parasitize several species of ground squirrels in southern Africa. The Geosciurus inauris (Rodentia: Sciuridae) that our specimens were collected on is characterized by its reddish-brown coarse fur with white lines that extend down the sides of its body, as well as distinctive pinna and lines around the eyes (Skurski and Waterman 2005).
![A Cape ground squirrel eating on the ground.](https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6201/6133821580_9c76a5c7de.jpg)
Stay tuned for a new edition of Friday Night Lice next week! For our friends in the United States, have a great Thanksgiving.
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