Sentences with phrase «wing lice»

The body lice's short legs make them poorly adapted to riding the flies, whereas wing lice sport long legs that allow for a good, strong grip, Harbison says.

To test this, Harbison and Clayton placed pigeons infested with body and wing lice in sheds together with lice - free pigeons and doves.

In the presence of flies, wing lice travel between host species, whereas body lice do not, the researchers report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists had known for decades that wing lice occasionally attach themselves to the hippoboscid fly, an insect that sips blood from many different species of birds.

Most species of body lice infest only one species of bird host, whereas each wing lice species generally infests several species of bird.

Researchers hypothesized that maybe wing lice more regularly swap host species because they are more adept hitchhikers.

In contrast, the evolutionary trees of wing lice and their hosts poorly match.

Tests have also shown that wing lice can cling to the flies much better than their body lice counterparts.

Not exact matches

Wing lice dine on the same fluffy feathers but spend most of their time on the wings or tail, where they hide in between barbs on the birds» large flight feathers.