Amblycera

Like all chewing lice, Amblycera are permanent ectoparasites of their hosts, in that they spend their entire life living off of their individual host.{{Cite web |last=P. Johnson |first=Kevin |last2=H. Clayton |first2=Dale |title=THE BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY, AND EVOLUTION OF CHEWING LICE |url=https://phthiraptera.myspecies.info/sites/phthiraptera.info/files/41865.pdf |access-date=May 11, 2025 |website=phthiraptera.myspecies.info}} Almost all Amblycera exclusively parasitize birds. In a section of their throat called the crop, Amblycera contain developed comb structures at the base.{{Cite web |title=Louse {{!}} Description, Features, Life Cycle, Species, & Classification {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/louse |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} The structures are used to prevent feathers and other debris from progressing further into the digestive system. All species are wingless, and have a broad head with a pair of mandibles.{{Cite web |title=Order Phthiraptera – ENT 425 – General Entomology |url=https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/insect-identification/order-phthiraptera/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |language=en-US}} The antennae are broken into three to five joints depending on the species, and they do not have any eyes. Anmblycera also have two small segmented claws at the end of their limbs. Species are small and dorsoventrally compressed, and are host specific in that a single species will parasitize on a single host. They can vary between one and five millimeters long, and range in color from white to black.{{Cite web |title=Chewing louse {{!}} Parasite, Poultry, Livestock {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/chewing-louse |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}

Amblycera undergo a process of metamorphosis with three stages: Eggs (also known as "nits"), nymph and adult. The process usually takes around two to three weeks on average.{{Cite web |title=Lice |url=https://capcvet.org/guidelines/lice/#:~:text=Once%20the%20egg%20has%20hatched,canis%20and%20F. |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=Companion Animal Parasite Council |language=en}} Eggs are usually 0.8 millimeters long and oval shaped. They range in color from yellow to white.{{Cite web |title=Lice-life-cycle |url=https://byjus.com/biology/lice-life-cycle/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=BYJUS |language=en}} The nymphs are also yellow to white in color, but undergo a three part process of moulting over the course of a week. After the third moult the lice are considered adults, and will live up to thirty days off of their chosen host.

Amblycera feed almost entirely on birds. The lice depend on a combination of skin, hair, feathers and blood for food and nutrients.{{Cite journal |last=Zhang |first=Yanjie |last2=Rasnitsyn |first2=Alexandr P. |last3=Zhang |first3=Weiwei |last4=Song |first4=Fan |last5=Shih |first5=Chungkun |last6=Ren |first6=Dong |last7=Wang |first7=Yongjie |last8=Li |first8=Hu |last9=Gao |first9=Taiping |date=2024-02-26 |title=Stem chewing lice on Cretaceous feathers preserved in amber |url=https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)00027-7?_returnURL=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982224000277?showall=true |journal=Current Biology |language=English |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=916–922.e1 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.027 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=38320551}} They use their mandibles in a horizontal scraping fashion to separate the skin from the bird so that it can be consumed. They will also use their claws to grasp onto the feathers of the host in order to prevent the bird from shaking the lice off. The consumed skin is taken from both living and dead cells, as opposed to the closely related Ischnoceran lice that feeds exclusively on dead material.{{Cite web |last=J. Weaver |first=Haylee |last2=Rózsa |first2=Lajos |title=CONCEPTS IN ANIMAL PARASITOLOGY |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=parasittext |access-date=May 11, 2025 |website=digitalcommons.unl.edu}} While most Ampblyceran lice use mandibles to feed, species in the genus Trochiloecete use two sharp stylets to pierce the skin and consume blood from nearby vessels.{{Cite web |title=Amblycera |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095407300 |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en |doi=10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095407300}} The lice also contain an endosymbiotic bacteria, which helps aid in digestion of material from the bird.{{Cite web |last=Atkinson |first=Carter |last2=Thomas |first2=Nancy |last3=Hunter |first3=Bruce |year=2008 |title=Parasitic Diseases of Wild Birds |url=https://darwin.biology.utah.edu/PDFs/BC7.pdf |access-date=May 12, 2025 |website=darwin.biology.utah.edu}}

Like all lice, Amblycera are distributed in the same locations as their preferred host.{{Cite web |date=2022-02-15 |title=Lice (Phthiraptera) - Factsheet for health professionals |url=https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/all-topics-z/disease-vectors/facts/factsheet-lice-phthiraptera#:~:text=All%20lice%20are%20co-distributed,humans%20and%20their%20domesticated%20animals. |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=www.ecdc.europa.eu |language=en}} The lice were likely spread during the original human colonization of various continents when host animals were brought along with them. The most diverse family (Menoponidae) with a high quantity of host-specific species has distribution spanning multiple continents.{{Cite journal |last=Kolencik |first=Stanislav |last2=Sychra |first2=Oldrich |last3=Johnson |first3=Kevin P. |last4=Weckstein |first4=Jason D. |last5=Sallam |first5=Mohamed F. |last6=Allen |first6=Julie M. |date=2024-05-01 |title=The parasitic louse genus Myrsidea (Amblycera: Menoponidae): a comprehensive review and world checklist |url=https://experts.illinois.edu/en/publications/the-parasitic-louse-genus-myrsidea-amblycera-menoponidae-a-compre |journal=Insect Systematics and Diversity |volume=8 |issue=3 |doi=10.1093/isd/ixae007 |issn=2399-3421}} Amblycera have shown a positive correlation between the quantity and diversity of host birds in regions and the quantity and diversity of their own species.{{Cite web |title=Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona: Scientific journals |url=https://museucienciesjournals.cat/en/amz/issue/19-2021-en/checklist-of-chewing-lice-phthiraptera-amblycera-and-ischnocera-of-the-birds-of-peru |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=museucienciesjournals.cat |language=ca}}

The lice by themselves are not particularly harmful,{{Cite web |title=Bird louse {{!}} Parasitic, Feather-Feeding, Poultry {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/bird-louse |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} however depending on the quantity the presence of Amblycera on birds can cause dermatitis on the skin and promote itchiness and scratching.{{Cite web |last=Clayton |last2=Gregory |last3=Price |year=1992 |title=Comparative ecology of Neotropical bird lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) |url=https://darwin.biology.utah.edu/PDFs/14.pdf |access-date=May 11, 2025 |website=darwin.biology.utah.edu}} In poultry, the lice can significantly reduce the rate of egg production. Birds with physically damaged bodies are vulnerable to Amblycera infestations due to the reduced ability to remove the lice by themselves.

Amblycera contain seven individual families of parasitic lice:{{Cite web |last=K. Marshall |first=Isabel |title=A morphological phylogeny for four families of amblyceran lice |url=https://phthiraptera.myspecies.info/sites/phthiraptera.info/files/41621.pdf |access-date=May 11, 2025 |website=phthiraptera.myspecies.info}}

• Menoponidae Mjöberg, 1910
• Laemobothriidae Mjöberg 1910
• Ricinidae Neumann 1890
• Boopiidae Mjöberg, 1910
• Gyropidae Kellogg, 1896
• Trimenoponidae Neumann 1890
• Abrocomophagidae Emerson and Price 1976

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• {{Commons category-inline|Amblycera}}
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Category:Lice

Category:Ecdysozoa unranked clades