Sucking louse

Sucking louse

Taxobox
name = Anoplura


image_caption = "Pediculus humanus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Phthiraptera
subordo = Anoplura
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision =
Echinophthiriidae (seal lice)
Enderleinellidae
Haematopinidae (ungulate lice)
Hamophthiriidae
Hoplopleuridae (armoured lice)
Hybothiridae
Linognathidae (pale lice)
Microthoraciidae
Neolinognathidae
Pecaroecidae
Pedicinidae
Pediculidae (body lice)
Phthiridae (pubic lice)
Polyplacidae (spiny rat lice)
Ratemiidae

Sucking lice (Anoplura) have around 500 species and represent the smaller of the two traditional suborders of lice. The Anoplura are all blood-feeding ectoparasites of mammals. They can cause localised skin irritations and are vectors of several blood-borne diseases.

Children appear particularly susceptible to attracting lice, possibly due to their fine hair.

At least three species 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 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 head louse. "Phthirus pubis" (the pubic louse) is the cause of the condition known as crabs.

External Links

* [http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/livestock/little_blue_cattle_louse.htm "Solenopotes capillatus", little blue cattle louse] on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site

*See alsoUse of DNA in forensic entomology


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • sucking louse — n. LOUSE (n. 1a) * * * Any of more than 400 species (suborder Anoplura, order Phthiraptera) of small, wingless, flat ectoparasitic insects found worldwide. They have piercing and sucking mouthparts for extracting their food of mammals blood and… …   Universalium

  • sucking louse — n any of an order (Anoplura) of wingless insects comprising the true lice with mouthparts adapted for sucking body fluids * * * any member of the order Anoplura …   Medical dictionary

  • sucking louse — n. LOUSE (n. 1a) …   English World dictionary

  • sucking louse — noun wingless usually flattened bloodsucking insect parasitic on warm blooded animals • Syn: ↑louse • Derivationally related forms: ↑lousy (for: ↑louse) • Hypernyms: ↑insect …   Useful english dictionary

  • sucking louse — suck•ing louse n. ent louse 1) • Etymology: 1905–10 …   From formal English to slang

  • sucking louse — noun Date: circa 1907 any of an order (Anoplura) of wingless insects comprising the true lice with mouthparts adapted to sucking body fluids …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • sucking louse. — See under louse (def. 1). [1905 10] * * * …   Universalium

  • sucking louse. — See under louse (def. 1). [1905 10] …   Useful english dictionary

  • louse — n. /lows/; v. /lows, lowz/, n., pl. lice /luys/ for 1 3, louses for 4, v., loused, lousing. n. 1. any small, wingless insect of the order Anoplura (sucking louse), parasitic on humans and other mammals and having mouthparts adapted for sucking,… …   Universalium

  • Louse — Lice redirects here. For the infection, see Pediculosis. For the district of Diyarbakır Province in Turkey, see Lice, Turkey. For other uses, see Louse (disambiguation). Phthiraptera …   Wikipedia

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