High infestations of sucking lice may cause poor condition and anemia in domestic stock, and have been reported to similarly affect wild deer. Sucking lice collected from wild nyala in the Ndumu Game Reserve in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africawere identified by light microscopy as Linognathus angasiWeisser& Ledger 19772. As the four Linognathus species found on the related bushbuck, nyala and greater kudu are morphologically very similar and difficult to distinguish, it was decided to do a scanning electron microscope (SEM) study to investigate the micromorphological characteristics of L. angasi. The lice preserved in 70% ethanol, were ultrasonically cleaned, and routinely prepared before viewing in a Zeiss SUPRA55VP FE-SEM at 2kV. The SEM study revealed the following observations. This was a small Linognathus species with the males measuring approximately 1.26 mm in total length and the females up to 1.50 mm. Small scale-like setae covered the head, thorax and membranous abdomen (Fig.1). The post-antennal conical head bearing six pairs of dorsal setae, tapered to join the thorax (Fig.1) while the short rounded pre-antennal part enclosed the flaps of the haustellum at the anterior tip. The antennal segments IV and V each showed a large pore organ containing its sensory tuft, and two plate organs, first illustrated for L. angasi in this study.
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