Stone louse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The stone louse (Petrophaga lorioti, in German Steinlaus) is a fictitious animal created by German humorist Loriot to parody nature documentaries. It was primarily featured in a video sketch, as well as being a fictitious entry in the German medical encyclopedic dictionary Pschyrembel Klinisches Wörterbuch.
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 The common stone louse
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[edit] Characteristics
The stone louse is a rodent-like mite bug in the order Fictional Rodents. It is 20–24 mm in length and was first discovered in 1976 by Loriot during research on a parody of zoologist Dr. Bernhard Grzimek (ARD, 20.47-51). It is known to consume about 28 kilograms of stone per day, depending on density and tastiness of said stone.
In the TV documentary the shy rodent is shown at lunch in its natural habitat. The small clip brought the "possierlichen kleinen Racker", as Loriot called it, into the daylight, which was rarely documented in literature before.
[edit] Publication in Pschyrembel
In 1983 the clinical dictionary Pschyrembel, from German publisher of scientific books Walter de Gruyter, contained information about the stone louse for the first time in printed form. The short article is thought to be mainly based on Loriot's TV documentary.
Extending Loriot's knowledge, the Pschyrembel informs about the louse's value in fighting bladder, gall and kidney stones. The subspecies gallstone louse and kidney stone louse are only mentioned briefly due to lack of further scientific data.
In the 257th edition of the Pschyrembel, the authors were a little sceptical about the information's authenticity and omitted the article. The following edition, in 1997, featured it again due to various protests from readers.
Recently found insights found their ways into this new version, which even speculated about the stone louse's participation in the fall of the Berlin Wall, since the wall was mainly placed in areas commonly inhabited by the stone louse. That theory was reinforced by discoveries that the stone louse might have been used by Spartanians to bring down the ancient Greeks' Long Walls. Latest discussions are about connecting the stone louse with the end of the Stoneage.
The Pschyrembel denies any hints of extermination and refers to recent sightings by local expert on stone lice, Dr. Schlereth, at construction sites in Kronach, Bavaria.
The 260th and most recent edition extends the knowledge even further and speaks of results in homeopathic medicine.
[edit] Stone louse infection and treatment
Although most stone lice prefer a variety of stone, some nomad strains are known to find temporary hosts in humans. These rare cases are usually treated using sediment lotions at health resorts near the Alps or the Zugspitze. Treatments usually take 8-9 days, or 4-5 days using an experimental treatment using additional administrations of songs featuring the Rolling Stones.
[edit] External links
- Pschyrembel, an extract of the Pschyrembel in German
- a German newspaper report about 'real' sightings at the Stephansdom, Austria.
