TYPES OF ECTOPARASITE, An ectoparasite is an organism that lives on the outside of its host, typically on the skin or feathers. Ectoparasites feed on the blood, skin, or other tissues of their host.
Ectoparasites include scabies (Sarcoptes scabies), the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius), fleas, and lice, including the body louse (Pediculus humanis), pubic louse (Phthirius pubis), and head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis).
An ectoparasite is an organism that lives on the outside of its host, typically on the skin or feathers. Ectoparasites feed on the blood, skin, or other tissues of their host. Some ectoparasites are temporary, such as mosquitoes, which only feed for a few minutes at a time. Other ectoparasites are more permanent, such as ticks, which can attach to their host for days or even weeks.
Ectoparasites can cause a variety of problems for their hosts, including:
- Irritation and itching
- Skin lesions
- Blood loss
- Transmission of diseases
Some common examples of ectoparasites include:
- Ticks
- Fleas
- Lice
- Mites
- Mosquitoes
- Flies
Ectoparasites can be a problem for both humans and animals. In humans, ectoparasites can cause diseases such as Lyme disease, malaria, and typhus. In animals, ectoparasites can cause diseases such as anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and heartworm disease.
Ectoparasites are often arthropods that attack the exterior surface of a host.
For example, the common tick is the carrier of the extracellular bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi responsible for Lyme disease.
The bacteria are introduced into the host when the tick bites him/her to obtain a blood meal. Large numbers of basophils, eosinophils and mast cells accumulate at the bite site to repel both the attacking bacteria and the tick.
It is thought that when mast cell degranulation releases substances that increase vascular permeability, ticks have greater difficulty in locating host blood vessels.
TYPES OF ECTOPARASITE
Some ectoparasites are countered by the same strategies effective against helminth worms. Anti-pathogen bound to the surface of basophils and mast cells is critical for host defence against such invaders.
For example, humans who lack adequate numbers of basophils and eosinophils develop scabies, a severe, itchy rash caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Much remains to be determined about the molecular details of immune responses to ectoparasites.
Ectoparasites include scabies (Sarcoptes scabiei), the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius), fleas, and lice, including the body louse (Pediculus humanis), pubic louse (Phthirius pubis), and head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis).
Their severity ranges from nuisance value to serious public health hazard. Head lice are common in schoolchildren worldwide and are mainly a distressing nuisance.
The body louse serves as a vector for epidemic typhus, trench fever, and louse-borne relapsing fever. In disaster situations, disinfection and hygienic practices may be essential to prevent epidemic typhus.
The flea plays an important role in the spread of the plague by transmitting the organism from rats to humans.
Control of rats has reduced the flea population; however, during war and disasters, rat and flea populations may thrive.
Scabies, which is caused by a mite, are common worldwide and transmitted from person to person contagious diseases.
The mite burrows under the skin and causes intense itching. All of these ectoparasites are preventable by proper hygiene and the treatment of cases. The spread of these diseases is rapid and therefore warrants immediate attention
Family Pediculidae
Parasites of primates, including humans; bodies fairly robust, not covered with dense spines; abdomen armed with pleural plates (paratergites) and with tergal and sternal plates in most species; with well-developed eyes, comprised of pigment granules and a lens; with legs approximately equal in length or with first pair slightly smaller. (Genera mentioned in text: Pediculus, Phthirus)
The ectoparasites most commonly found in nonhuman primates are lice and mites. These blood-sucking and biting arthropods are not host-specific and will move from one warm-blooded animal to another.
Both are known to serve as vectors of human rickettsial diseases such as epidemic typhus fever and scrub typhus.
Although there is no documentation that such diseases have been transmitted from infected monkeys to humans, mites from nonhuman primates were thought to be responsible for dermatitis in human contacts, including pediculosis from spider monkeys (Ronald and Wagner, 1973) and sarcoptic mange from macaques (Smiley and O’Connor, 1980) types of ectoparasite
The lung mite, Pneumonyssus simicola, causes pulmonary acariasis in monkeys and is very common
This parasite is not thought to be zoonotic but is noteworthy because the small cystic lesions of this infestation, found throughout the lung parenchyma but particularly on the surface, are often numerous and may be confused with those caused by tuberculosis.
lists of ectoparasites
• ACARI
• VARROA DESTRUCTOR
• CYMOTHOA EXIGUA
• BED BUGS
• CULICIDAE (MOSQUITOES)
• CALYPTRA (VAMPIRE MOTHS)
• HIPPOBOSCOIDEA
• TSETSE FLY
• LIPOPTENA
• MELOPHAGUS OVINUS, (SHEEP KEDS) AND RELATIVES
• OESTRIDAE (BOT FLIES)
• HUMAN BOTFLY
• PHLEBOTOMINAE (SAND FLIES)
• PHTHIRAPTERA (LICE)
• BODY LOUSE
1. CRAB LOUSE
2. HEAD LOUSE
3. SIPHONAPTERA (FLEAS)
4. TABANIDAE (HORSE FLIES)
5. TANTULOCARIDA
6. TRIATOMINAE
7. PEA CRAB
8. SACCULINA
9. ANNELIDS
10. HIRUDINEA (SOME LEECHES)
11. MONOGENEANS
12. MONOGENEANS ARE FLATWORMS, GENERALLY ECTOPARASITES ON FISH.
13. CALYDISCOIDES EUZETI
14. LETHACOTYLE VERA
15. PROTOCOTYLE EUZETMAILLARDI
16. PSEUDORHABDOSYNOCHUS SPP.
17. MOLLUSKS
18. CANCELLARIA COOPERII
19. GLOCHIDIUM
20. PYRAMIDELLIDAE
21. CHORDATES
22. COOKIECUTTER SHARK
23. CANDIRU (VAMPIRE FISH OF BRAZIL, A FACULTATIVE PARASITE)
24. LAMPREYS
25. MALE DEEP SEA ANGLERS
26. FALSE CLEANERFISH
types of ectoparasite
Lice are wingless, meaning they can’t fly. ectoparasites. Ectoparasites are parasites that live on the outside of their host.
groups of ectoparasite
There are two main kinds of lice in the order Phlethiraptera. These are the biting lice, which are most often found on birds, and the sucking lice, which are mostly found on mammals.
Biting lice types of ectoparasite. you can also read more about biting and chewing insects here
Biting lice (Mallophaga) are Ectoparasites of birds, and occasionally of mammals.
Their mouthparts are adapted for chewing=biting and chewing insects, and they munch away on skin fragments, skin secretions, feathers and hair.
Few species of lice feed on host blood, especially from existing wounds.
Bird lice are highly host-specific, which means that they stick to certain species of bird. This fact has made zoologists review the relationships and classification of some birds, because birds that share similar species of lice may be more closely related
Biting lice rarely have a detrimental effect on their hosts. However, in man-made situations, such as chicken farms, they can occur in large numbers. In those circumstances they can cause a lot of irritation to the farmed birds, causing them to scratch a lot.
The birds might then get skin infections due to the sore skin. Sucking lice types of ectoparasiteSucking lice (Siphunculata) have long oval bodies, and their heads are smaller than those of biting lice. Their scientific name comes from the Latin word siphunculus
, which means little pipe or siphon.
Sucking lice have piercing mouthparts-holozoic feeding adaptation, which they use to suck the blood of their hosts, including man. They hang on to hair with a single large claw at the end of their strong legs. Lice that feed exclusively on blood do not get a well-balanced diet, and make up for this by having bacteria in their gut that provide the additional nutrients, well this process still remains a mystery to me to be honest
damages caused by types of ectoparasite infections
Nearly every mammal species can be infested by a sucking louse – even seals and walruses have them! These marine lice all belong to the family Echinophthiriidae, and they can exist for long periods underwater by taking a layer of air down with them between their specially modified body hairs, or by breathing air trapped in the host’s body hair. Types of ectoparasites
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