Who bites a louse or nit? - briefly
«Lice attach to a host and pierce the skin to draw blood, whereas nits are immobile eggs that do not bite at all».
Who bites a louse or nit? - in detail
Lice are wingless, blood‑feeding insects that inhabit the skin and hair of mammals and birds. Their eggs, commonly called nits, are attached firmly to hair shafts and hatch into immatures that continue the parasitic cycle.
Predators that actively bite or consume lice and their eggs include:
- Beetles of the family Dermestidae, which pierce the cuticle of adult lice and ingest the contents.
- Mites such as Sarcoptes spp., which attack both adult insects and eggs, using chelicerae to breach the exoskeleton.
- Spiders, particularly those that construct small capture webs in nests, immobilize lice and inject venom to subdue them.
- Certain ant species, notably Myrmica and Formica spp., which seize lice with mandibles and transport them to the colony for consumption.
Birds that groom heavily, such as chickens and pigeons, may ingest lice while pecking at their plumage. This behavior results in the physical removal of parasites, though the primary mechanism is swallowing rather than biting.
Mammalian hosts occasionally remove lice during self‑grooming. The action involves teeth or claws scraping the skin, which can crush or detach the insects but does not constitute a biting process directed at the parasite.
Human contact with lice is generally limited to accidental crushing or removal during personal hygiene. Direct biting of lice or nits by people is rare and lacks biological advantage, as humans lack specialized mouthparts for extracting nutrients from such small ectoparasites.
In summary, the organisms that bite or consume lice and their eggs are primarily predatory insects, arachnids, and certain birds that incorporate the parasites into their diet. Mammals and humans may eliminate lice through mechanical actions, but they do not engage in true biting of the insects or their eggs.