Literary notes about chigger (AI summary)
The term "chigger" is employed in literature with a range of uses that reveal both its scientific precision and its broader metaphorical or colloquial appeal. In scientific texts, it typically denotes a larval mite of the order Acarina—particularly those in the genus Trombicula—and is catalogued as a parasite on a variety of hosts, from birds (as with the megapode [1] and the Guam Kingfisher [2]) to mammals and even humans (notably as a common pest [3] and in association with snakes [4]). Beyond these taxonomic applications, the word shows up in less formal contexts: it appears in playful, vernacular expressions such as a self-deprecating comparison to a persistent, clinging entity [5] and is even embedded in creative terms like "chiggerfoot" to evoke the image of a diminutive, burrowing flea [6]. Additionally, its reach extends subtly into botanical language through compounds like "chigger-weed" [7], illustrating the word’s versatile trajectory across literary genres.
- —Wharton and Hardcastle (1946:294) obtained the chigger (Acarina), Neoschöngastia yeomansi , from the megapode at Palau.
— from The Avifauna of Micronesia, Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution by Rollin H. (Rollin Harold) Baker - —Wharton (1946:174) obtained the chigger (Acarina), Trombicula sp., from the Guam Kingfisher.
— from The Avifauna of Micronesia, Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution by Rollin H. (Rollin Harold) Baker - The first species is the common pest chigger of humans and domestic animals in the United States, and south through tropical America.
— from Life History and Ecology of the Five-Lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatus by Henry S. (Henry Sheldon) Fitch - That kind of chigger is primarily a parasite of small mammals, and perhaps cannot develop successfully when it attaches to a snake.
— from Natural History of the Racer Coluber constrictor by Henry S. (Henry Sheldon) Fitch - I grab it by de two wingses, an' I hang on liker chigger.
— from The Corner House Girls at School by Grace Brooks Hill - "Chiggerfoot" takes its name from the chigoe, chigger, or jigger, the minute flea which burrows into the foot.
— from Jamaican Song and StoryAnnancy stories, digging sings, ring tunes, and dancing tunes - He sat down upon some cushioning chigger-weed.
— from Mountain: A Novel by Clement Wood
