- Stone louse
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 ".Characteristics
The stone louse is described as a rodent-like
mite in the order "Fictional Rodents", between 20 and 24 mm in length. Its 1976 "discovery" by Loriot parodied the works of Germanzoologist and documentary filmmaker Dr.Bernhard Grzimek (ARD, 20.47-51).huh It is said to consume about 28 kilograms of stone per day, depending on the 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 Nager" ("endearing little rodents"), as Loriot called it, to the attention of modern science.
Publication in "Pschyrembel"
In
1983 the clinical dictionary "Pschyrembel", from German scientific publisherWalter de Gruyter , contained information about the stone louse for the first time in printed form. The short article is thoughtFact|date=October 2007 to be based mainly on Loriot's TV documentary.Extending Loriot's parody, the "Pschyrembel" informs about the louse's value in fighting bladder, gall and kidney stones. The subspecies "
gallstone louse" and "kidney stone louse" are mentioned only 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 authenticityFact|date=October 2007 and omitted the article. The following edition, in
1997 , featured it again due to protests from readers.Fact|date=October 2007Recently-found insights found their way 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 the Spartans to bring down the ancient Athenians'Long Walls . Other hypotheses connect the stone louse with the end of theStone Age .The "Pschyrembel" denies that the stone louse has become extinct, and refers to recent "sightings" by a local expert on stone lice, "Dr. Schlereth", at construction sites in Kronach,
Bavaria .The 260th and (as of 2007) most recent edition extends the article even further, referring to results in
homeopathic medicine.Confusing|date=October 2007tone 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 theZugspitze . Treatments usually take 8-9 days, or 4-5 days using an experimental treatment using additional administrations of songs featuring the Rolling Stones.Fact|date=October 2007References
External links
* [http://www.wienerzeitung.at/Desktopdefault.aspx?TabID=3946&Alias=wzo&lexikon=Wissenschaft&letter=W&cob=7142 German newspaper report about "real" sightings] at the Stephansdom, Austria.
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