Sucking lice (Anoplura, formerly known as Siphunculata) have around 500

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

and represent the smaller of the two traditional superfamilies of

lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...

. As opposed to the

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

chewing lice The Mallophaga are a possibly paraphyletic section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especia ...

, which are now divided among three suborders, the sucking lice are

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

. The Anoplura are all blood-feeding

ectoparasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s. They only occur on about 20% of all placentalian mammal species, and are unknown from several orders of mammals ( Monotremata,

Edentata Xenarthra (; from Ancient Greek ξένος, xénos, "foreign, alien" + ἄρθρον, árthron, "joint") is a major clade of placental mammals native to the Americas. There are 31 living species: the anteaters, tree sloths, and armadillos. Ex ...

Pholidota Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (, from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales"). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: ''Manis'', ''Phataginus'', and ''Smutsia'' ...

Chiroptera Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bir ...

Cetacea Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...

Sirenia The Sirenia (), commonly referred to as sea-cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The Sirenia currently comprise two distinct f ...

, and Proboscidea).Piotrowski, F. (1992): Anoplura (echte Läuse). de Gruiter; 61 pp. (page 8) They can cause localized skin irritations and are

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

s of several blood-borne diseases. Children appear particularly susceptible to attracting lice, possibly due to their fine hair. At least three species or subspecies of Anoplura are parasites of humans; the human condition of being infested with sucking lice is called

pediculosis Pediculosis is an infestation of lice from the sub-order Anoplura, family Pediculidae. Accordingly, the infestation with head lice is named pediculosis capitis, while this with body lice, pediculosis corporis. Although ''pediculosis'' in humans ma ...

. ''Pediculus humanus'' is divided into two subspecies, ''Pediculus humanus humanus'', or the

human body louse The body louse (''Pediculus humanus humanus'', also known as ''Pediculus humanus corporis'') is a hematophagic ectoparasite louse that infests humans. It is one of three lice which infest humans, the other two being the head louse, and the c ...

, 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 Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

Families

These 15

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

are generally recognized in the Anoplura: *

Echinophthiriidae Echinophthiriidae is a family of lice in the suborder Anoplura, the sucking lice. This family of lice are parasites of seals and the river otter, and are the only insects that infest aquatic hosts.Leonardi, M. S., et al. (2012)Scanning electr ...

Enderlein, 1904 – (seal lice) * Enderleinellidae Ewing, 1929 * Haematopinidae Enderlein, 1904 – (ungulate lice) * Hamophthiriidae Johnson, 1969 * Hoplopleuridae Ewing, 1929 – (armoured lice) * Hybophthiridae Ewing, 1929 *

Linognathidae Linognathidae is a family of lice in the order Psocodea. There are at least 3 genera and 70 described species in Linognathidae. Genera These three genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of li ...

Webb, 1946 – (pale lice) * Microthoraciidae Kim & Lugwig, 1978 * Neolinognathidae Fahrenholz, 1936 * Pecaroecidae von Kéler, 1963 * Pedicinidae Enderlein, 1904 – (Old World monkey lice) *

Pediculidae ''Pediculus'' is a genus of sucking lice, the sole genus in the family Pediculidae. ''Pediculus'' species are ectoparasites of primates. Species include: *''Pediculus clavicornis'' Nitzsch, 1864 *''Pediculus humanus'' Linnaeus, 1758 **''Pediculu ...

Leach, 1817 – (body lice) *

Polyplacidae Polyplacidae is a family of lice in the suborder Anoplura, the sucking lice. Lice in this family are known commonly as the spiny rat lice. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution. As of 2010 there were 193 species.Light, J. E., et al. (2010 ...

Fahrenholz, 1912 – (spiny rat lice) *

Pthiridae ''Pthirus'' is a genus of lice. There are only two extant species, and they are the sole known members of the family Pthiridae. '' Pthirus gorillae'' infests gorillas, and '' Pthirus pubis'' afflicts humans, and is commonly known as the crab lo ...

Ewing, 1929 – (pubic lice) * Ratemiidae Kim & Lugwig, 1978

References

External links

''Solenopotes capillatus'', little blue cattle louse
on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
VectorBase homepage for ''Pediculus humanus''
(genome browser, downloads and more) {{Authority control Lice

Families

See also

References

External links