Lice

One group of parasitic insects very well represented in Te Papa’s entomological collection is the Phthiraptera (from Greek phtheir - a louse, and apterygos - without wings), more commonly known as lice or kutu. The collection includes lice from almost all species of native and introduced New Zealand birds, as well as from introduced terrestrial mammals, native marine mammals, and humans.

It also includes a great number of louse species from seabirds collected in many oceanic islands around the world.

In particular, it contains a large series of lice from the huia, a unique New Zealand bird which, together with its parasites, became extinct at the beginning of the  twentieth century.

Lice spend their complete life cycle on their bird or mammal host, being totally dependent on the heat, humidity, and secretions produced by the host. Both adults and nymphs have a similar diet which, depending on the species, may be blood, feathers, skin debris, mucus, or serum - one of the constituents of blood.

Their strict dependence on the host means that, when the host dies, its lice die too. Often, dead lice remain inside the plumage or fur and can be subsequently collected from dead hosts, even after these have been taxidermised and kept in collections for many years.

Lice are generally small (1-10mm long), flat, and darkly coloured. In order to be properly studied, identified, and scientifically described, they need to be specially processed and slide-mounted to facilitate their examination under powerful microscopes (Palma, 1978).

Te Papa’s collection contains about 70,000 specimens mounted on 35,000 glass slides. These are kept in 1400 specially made cardboard trays which, in turn, are stored inside 140 sturdy boxes.

The first lice acquired by the Museum were collected in 1908 from seabirds, starlings, and goats by a scientific expedition to the Kermadec Islands under the leadership of T Iredale and W R B Oliver (Johnston and Harrison, 1912). 

There was no collection growth until the 1950s, when taxidermists preparing birds for the ornithological collection began to collect their lice. That slow but steady growth continued until the appointment, in 1976, of a phthirapterist, an entomologist specialising in the study of lice. He initiated an active collecting and research programme, still ongoing today.

The acquisition of the R L C Pilgrim Collection of lice in 1985, comprising over 18,000 specimens, made Te Papa’s the largest collection of New Zealand lice in the world.

Besides its strong New Zealand content, the collection also includes over 6000 lice from Galápagos Islands hosts, collected by Te Papa’s phthirapterist during a scientific expedition in 1992, and the remains of seven ‘mummified’ human headlice found among the fine teeth of an Egyptian wooden comb dated between the fifth and the sixth centuries AD (Palma, 1991).

References
Johnston, T H, and Harrison, L. 1912. 'A collection of Mallophaga from the Kermadecs.' Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 44. pp363-373.

Palma, R L. 1978. 'Slide-mounting of lice : a detailed description of the Canada balsam technique.' New Zealand Entomologist 6(4). pp432-436.

Palma, R.L. 1991. 'Ancient head lice on a wooden comb from Antinoe, Egypt.' The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology  77. pp194, pl. 21.