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

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

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 resul ...

. 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 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 re ...

, which are now divided among three

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

s, 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 ...

. 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 ha ...

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

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 '' Smut ...

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,

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 ...

, and

Proboscidea The Proboscidea (; , ) are a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family ( Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Fr ...

).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. ''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 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 al ...

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. Idea ...

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 electron ...

Enderlein, 1904 – (seal lice) *

Enderleinellidae Enderleinellidae is a family of parasitic lice in the order Psocodea Psocodea is a taxonomic group of insects comprising the bark lice, book lice and parasitic lice. It was formerly considered a superorder, but is now generally considered by ...

Ewing, 1929 * Haematopinidae Enderlein, 1904 – (ungulate lice) * Hamophthiriidae Johnson, 1969 *

Hoplopleuridae Hoplopleuridae is a family of lice in the order Psocodea. There are about 6 genera and more than 150 described species in Hoplopleuridae. Genera These six genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...

Ewing, 1929 – (armoured lice) * Hybophthiridae Ewing, 1929 * Linognathidae Webb, 1946 – (pale lice) * Microthoraciidae Kim & Lugwig, 1978 * Neolinognathidae Fahrenholz, 1936 * Pecaroecidae von Kéler, 1963 * Pedicinidae Enderlein, 1904 – (Old World monkey lice) * Pediculidae Leach, 1817 – (body lice) * Polyplacidae Fahrenholz, 1912 – (spiny rat lice) * Pthiridae 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