Know About The Head Lice, Lice Cycle!

The life or lice cycle runs no more then 30 days yet during that time it creates a great deal of irritation in young and old alike

. Head lice or hair lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are tiny wingless insects that spend all of their lives on the hairy part of the head. An adult head louse is about the size of a sesame seed and varies in color from tan to gray or brown according to the environment they were raised. This parasite has six legs that end in a claw which it uses to skillfully grapple the hair shaft and nimbly move from one hair strand to another. The two front legs are largest and are used to grab hair strand. Lice love staying in the hair because of the constant temperature and they are able to reproduce constantly all through the year. The male specie has larger forelegs but the female has a larger body.

The lice cycle begins when the female louse lays an egg on the junction of the scalp and hair shaft and covers it with a sort of glue that cements it to the hair. Most eggs are laid at night. About 3-5 eggs are laid in 24 hours. If the environment is conducive, the eggs hatch within 7-11 days. A new young louse nymph then leaves behind its egg shell still connected to the shaft. Nymphs develop in three nymphal stages, shedding its exoskeleton at the end of each stage as it gets larger. The newly-hatched nymph must have a blood-meal within minutes after birth. Nymph development takes 7-10 days to mature depending on feeding conditions. Louse nymphs are very much like the adult louse except that they are much lighter. They can even be blown away by wind. At this point, the gender of the insect is not apparent.

The last part of the lice cycle is the adult stage. At this point the sex of the louse is determined. Female reproduction is possible after this. An adult female can be paired with numerous males within 10 hours of adult life. After 24 hours, pairs copulate frequently and at any time of the day. Mating attachments last upward of an hour. With a male louse, age does not matter since it can pair with an older female. The female lice reproduce continually throughout the year and can lay between 50 and 150 eggs in her lifetime.

Threats to the hair lice cycle is mainly from human intervention. We dont like them staying even for a short amount of time. Thats why we do everything to get rid of them. Other than humans, these creatures have no other predators. They do, on their own, have a high mortality rate. Lice cant live long off of the body since they are constant blood feeders. So, once they fall off the head, unless they transfer to a new host, they die. Nymph death occurs during hatching when they cant completely come out of their egg, during feeding if its guts rupture, and even during copulation. If they reach the adult stage, they rarely live beyond 35 days. Even though the life span is short it can give a lot of discomfort and embarrassment to the host. If left unchecked, the danger to humans is not only of contagion but also of secondary infection. We may not have one surefire way to get rid of lice, but we can make the hear lice cycle very short.

by: Don Ellis

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