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The female lays about three eggs a day. The eggs take 6–8 days to hatch, and there are three nymphal stages which together take 10–17 days before the adult develops, making a total life cycle from egg to adult of 16–25 days. Adults live for up to 30 days. [6] Crab lice feed exclusively on blood, and take a blood meal 4–5 times daily.
Pediculosis pubis (also known as "crabs" and "pubic lice") is an infestation by the pubic louse, Pthirus pubis, a wingless insect which feeds on blood and lays its eggs (nits) on mainly pubic hair. Less commonly, hair near the anus, armpit, beard, eyebrows, moustache, and eyelashes may be involved.
Pubic lice fall within the Pthirus pubis family of louse, different from head lice. Learn how you can get crabs and what to do once you see them. Pubic Lice (Crabs) Transmission and Medicated Removal
Pthirus is a genus of lice. There are only two extant species, and they are the sole known members of the family Pthiridae. [4] Pthirus gorillae infests gorillas, [5] and Pthirus pubis afflicts humans, and is commonly known as the crab louse or pubic louse. [6] The two species diverged some 3.3 million years ago. [7]
All species of sucking lice feed on blood. [5] They live in close association with their hosts and complete their entire life cycle on the host. [1] Pthirus gorillae infests the same parts of the bodies of gorillas as Pthirus pubis does in humans, [6] but since the gorilla is hairier, the lice tend to range over the whole body. [7]
Lice may transmit microbial diseases and helminth parasites, [22] but most individuals spend their whole life cycle on a single host and are only able to transfer to a new host opportunistically. [7] Ischnoceran lice may reduce the thermoregulation effect of the plumage; thus heavily infested birds lose more heat than others. [23]
Outside their hosts lice cannot survive more than 24 hrs. [23] The time required for head lice to complete their nymph development to the imago lasts for 12–15 days. [1] Nymph mortality in captivity is about 38%, especially within the first two days of life. [1] In the wild, mortality may instead be highest in the third instar. [1]
The life cycle of the body louse consists of three stages: egg, nymph, and adult. Eggs (also called nits, see head louse nits ) are attached to the clothes or hairs by the female louse, using a secretion of the accessory glands that holds the egg in place until it hatches, while the nits (empty egg shells) may remain for months on the clothing.