ArticleScientific reports2022
Putative native South Amerindian origin of head lice clade F: evidence from head lice nits infesting human shrunken heads.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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5 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- DNA Barcoding of Head Lice from a ~1500-Year-Old Salt-Preserved Mummy from the Chehrabad Salt Mine, Iran.Insects · 2026Article
- Epidemiological and molecular insights into human lice (Anoplura: Pediculidae) in France: genetic diversity and DNA barcoding.Parasite (Paris, France) · 2026Article
- Genotyping specimens of human lice from a centenary entomological collection.Current research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2025Article
- Human pediculosis, a global public health problem.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2022Review
- Are museums the future of evolutionary medicine?Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis, is a strictly obligate human ectoparasite with a long history of association with humans. Here, 17 ancient head lice nits were recovered from six shrunken human heads (known as tsantsas) of individuals from the Shuar/Jivaro tribe, a native Amazonian population from Ecuador, South America. Cytochrome b DNA analysis revealed the presence of three known mitochondrial clades. Clade A was the most frequent (52.94%), followed by F (35.29%), and B (11.76%). Eleven haplotypes were found in 17 samples, and nine of the haplotypes were novel, indicating an unusually high genetic diversity. In conclusion, we confirmed the presence of clades A, B and F in South Amerindian population. Moreover, the description of clade F, together with its previous reports in another Amerindian population from French Guiana, strongly support the hypothesis of a native South American origin for this clade, and probably derived from clade B which was carried to America by an ancestral Eurasian Beringian population. Further support to our conclusion and new insights might come from the analysis of a larger collection of modern and ancient native American lice.
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