The effect of temperature upon the hatching of the eggs of Pediculus humanus corporis de Geer (Anoplura)

Extract

The hatching of the eggs of Pediculus humanus corporis De Geer is influenced by temperature.

High temperatures accelerate and low temperatures delay development.

The lowest constant temperature at which eggs will hatch is 24° and the highest 37°.

At 24° eggs begin to hatch on the seventeenth day and continue hatching until the twenty-first. At 37° eggs hatch on the sixth and seventh days. The temperature at which eggs hatch in the shortest time is 35° and the time 5 days. At these extremes many eggs are killed so that the percentages of successful hatches are very low. Eggs are killed by 2 days' exposure to 39°.

Temperatures at which the maximum number of eggs hatch he between 29 and 32°. In this range of “favourable” temperatures, up to 97% of successful hatches may be recorded. The incubation period is from 7 to 11 days. This is a convenient range of temperatures for laboratory purposes and gives largest numbers in a reasonably short time.

Newly deposited eggs will not hatch if kept for 14 days at 23° or for shorter periods at lower temperatures, until at 8° exposure for 7 days is sufficient to ensure that all eggs are dead.

If partially developed eggs are exposed to temperatures of 15° or lower, development ceases. If they are restored to a favourable temperature within 7 days, development is resumed and some of the eggs will hatch.

Older eggs which have almost reached hatching point at a “favourable” temperature hatch if transferred to temperatures as low as 18°. They do not hatch at 15° or lower if kept at such temperatures for at least 9 days.