All species of sucking lice feed on blood.[5] They live in close association with their hosts and complete their entire life cycle on the host.[1]Pthirus gorillae infests the same parts of the bodies of gorillas as Pthirus pubis does in humans,[6] but since the gorilla is hairier, the lice tend to range over the whole body.[7] The two also resemble each other with the exception that Pthirus gorillae has large eyes that are placed on large lateral protuberances. A short and broad sucking louse, it is about 2.20 mm long with sprawling legs and not more than 20 small abdominal setae.[4]
It was first identified from specimens of mountain gorillas in 1927 by Henry Ellsworth Ewing during a game-hunting trip in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[4]Molecular phylogenetics suggest that P. gorillae jumped from gorillas to early humans 3.3 million years ago and diverged into the present-day pubic louse.[1][8] Researchers theorize that humans acquired the parasite while butchering or scavenging on gorilla carcasses, or sleeping in the abandoned sleeping nests of gorillas.[9][10]
Several lice of the species were found during a necropsy in the stomach of a female gorilla from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park; she had presumably been grooming before she died.[4]
The conservation status of this species is unknown. Since its host species is critically endangered, it is likely that this species is endangered too.
