earticle

영어

Host-specificity is an important aspect of parasite diversity. Mammalian chewing lice are highly host-specific ectoparasites that demonstrate adaptive specialization to morphological characteristics of their host, such as hair shaft diameter. Studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between louse head groove width and host hair diameter, suggesting an anatomical relationship that is crucial to louse survival. This study aims to assess the relationship between hair shaft diameters of goats and rostral groove dimensions of the chewing lice that parasitize them. Thirty chewing lice (Damalinia limbata) attached to guard hairs were removed from the nape region of three adult goats of different breeds (Anglo-Nubian, Saanen and Boer), for a total of 90 lice and hair shaft pairs. Rostral groove width and hair shaft diameter were measured using microscopy and MIPro Standard v1.1 image analysis software. The results showed no correlation between the louse rostral groove width and hair shaft diameter. This suggests that goat chewing lice have a rostral groove that allows for attachment to variable host hair shafts, and that hair shaft diameter as a physical adaptive constraint may be less apparent at the level of individual hosts of the same species, providing new insights into host-parasite evolutionary relationships.