Image of human body louse

Description:

This was one of five scanning electron micrographic (SEM) images (PHIL# 9243 – 9247), successively magnified at higher and higher values, which focused on the head region of a female body louse, Pediculus humanus var. corporis from a ventral perspective. At a relatively low magnification of 154x, this SEM revealed some of the insect’s exoskeletal morphology exhibited by the cephalic region. Note the two bilaterally situated antennae composed of three main segments: the most proximal scape, a pedicle, and the multi-segmented flagellum. The antennae, and the insect’s body sport sensorial hairs known as "setae, both of which provided the organism with a "picture of its environment, by taking readings in thermal, chemical, and mechanical changes encountered in its immediate surroundings.
Created: 2006