Little Blue Cattle Louse, Solenopotes Capillatus
     This louse resembles a small longnosed louse. It is similar in color but is slightly less than 1/16 inch long when full grown. The head is bluntly rounded. The eggs are similar to those of the longnosed cattle louse, but smaller. Also, a cow hair on which an egg of this species is laid is characteristically bent at an angle where the egg is attached. Incubation requires from 9 to 13 days. Nymphs mature rapidly, and females begin laying eggs about 11 days after hatching. Few details of the biology of this species are known.

     Little blue cattle lice are more common than all other cattle lice in the Delta States, the Southeast, in Oklahoma, and perhaps in east Texas. In other Great Plains States they are present but usually of minor importance except on cattle received from endemic areas.

Cattle Biting Louse, Bovicola Bovis
     Although they do not suck blood, the feeding and movement of biting lice on the skin of cattle cause itching and distress. Cattle biting lice are present on most beef cattle in the Great Plains States. However, they become far more numerous on northern dairy cattle housed for the winter and stanchioned where they cannot lick themselves.

     The cattle biting louse is easily distinguished from sucking lice. It is about 1/16 inch in length. The head is large, nearly round, and two-thirds as wide as the body. The head and thorax of both adults and nymphs are brownish-amber in color. Nymphs have pale cream-colored abdomens. The adult abdomen is darkly outlined and has a series of brown crossbars on a pale background. The eggs are pearly white when freshly laid and become pale brown as the embryos develop within.

      Cattle biting louse eggs require from 6 to 11, usually 7 or 8, days to hatch. Nymphs reach adulthood in 12 to 21 days. Females begin producing eggs 3 days after becoming adults. A complete life cycle can occur in as little as 3 weeks, but may require a month or more. Populations of this species are usually from 95 to 99 percent female. Reproduction is accomplished by parthenogenesis, a form of reproduction without mating. Females commonly lay 30 to 35 eggs during a 4 to 6 week period. Adults survive as long as 9 or 10 weeks.

Cattle Tail Louse, Haematopinus Quadripertusus
     Little information is available on the biology of this species. It is closely related to the shortnosed cattle louse and probably has similar rates of reproduction and growth. Cattle tail lice prefer to live on the long-haired portion of the tail, but are also often found on the neck and around the eyes.

     Unlike other cattle louse species, tail lice are most abundant in late summer and early fall and are scarce throughout the winter. This is often the most damaging species in coastal areas of the South and Southeast, but it is absent or uncommon in the Great Plains States except for southeastern Texas.

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