As I work on digitizing the Frost’s sucking lice (Anoplura) collection, I continue to learn more about the collection’s vast array of specimens. I must say, working directly with one of the largest louse collections in the world has enabled me to expand my current knowledge and further educate myself about various lice hosts and their respective geographic distributions. Prior to my work, as the case with most of you, I was only familiar with Pediculus humanus capitis (De Geer, 1767) also known as head louse, due to the fact that they are exclusively found on humans.
![Close up picture of Pediculus humanus capitis.](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4123/4900275659_8a5e6625ea.jpg)
An interesting discovery I made while databasing was members in the Rattus species are hosts to over 20 different species of lice! Meanwhile other mammals such as cows (Bos taurus), which are much larger and similarly found worldwide, are hosts to only 5 different species of lice in our collection, strangely interesting right? I wonder if host size is negligible for host determination for these microscopic critters? Perhaps the presence of favorable climate conditions allow lice to thrive in their host, regardless of size, via host partitioning? This is a thought I will ponder this week and will spend some time on readings focusing on louse host determination.
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