Sucking louse

Sucking louse
Linognathus setosus (Linognathidae)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
(unranked): Paraneoptera
Order: Psocodea
Suborder: Troctomorpha
Infraorder: Phthiraptera
Parvorder: Anoplura
Leach, 1815
Families
Synonyms

Siphunculata[1]

Sucking lice (known scientifically as Anoplura) are a parvorder[2] of around 550 species of lice. All sucking lice are blood-feeding ectoparasites of mammals. They can cause localized skin irritations and are vectors of several blood-borne diseases.

At least three species or subspecies of Anoplura are parasites of humans; the human condition of being infested with sucking lice is called pediculosis. Pediculus humanus is divided into two subspecies, Pediculus humanus humanus, or the human body louse, sometimes nicknamed "the seam squirrel" for its habit of laying of eggs in the seams of clothing, and Pediculus humanus capitis, or the human head louse. Pthirus pubis (the human pubic louse) is the cause of the condition known as crabs.

  1. ^ Ibarra, J. (1993). "Lice (Anoplura)". In Lane, R.P.; Crosskey, R.W. (eds.). Medical Insects and Arachnids. Dordrecht: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-011-1554-4_15.
  2. ^ "Psocodea Species File - Anoplura Leach, 1815". psocodea.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 2025-05-10.

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