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Humans are hosts only to three types of sucking lice: body lice, head lice, and pubic lice. Head lice live on the human scalp and feed on human blood. They are 0.09 – 0.1 inches long, wingless ...
Head lice are wingless insects that spend their entire lives on the human scalp and feed exclusively on human blood. [1] Humans are the only known hosts of this specific parasite, while chimpanzees and bonobos host a closely related species, Pediculus schaeffi. Other species of lice infest most orders of mammals and all orders of birds.
Lice are divided into two groups: sucking lice, which obtain their nourishment from feeding on the sebaceous secretions and body fluids of their host; and chewing lice, which are scavengers, feeding on skin, fragments of feathers or hair, and debris found on the host's body. Many lice are specific to a single species of host and have co-evolved ...
Most adult species are light tan to brown in color and are usually 1–4 mm in length, although some livestock species can grow to be 5–7 mm, and some wild bird species can even get to 10 mm. [2] Mallophaga are often adapted to live on a specific part of their host and typically spend their entire lives on a single host.
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 ...
Other lice that infest humans are the body louse and the crab louse (aka pubic lice). The claws of these three species are adapted to attach to specific hair diameters. [18] Pubic lice are most often spread by sexual contact with an infested person. [19] Body lice can be found on clothing and they are not known to burrow into the skin. [20]
The nymph will molt three times before the adult louse emerges. The nymph usually takes 9–12 days to develop into an adult louse. [14] The adult body louse is about 2.5–3.5 mm long, and like a nymph it has six legs. It is wingless and is tan to grayish-white in color. Life cycle of Pediculus humanus capitis, which is similar to the body ...
Most lice also further specialize to specific regions on their hosts such as the fluff at the base of the tail, the head, and the shaft. [5] In fact, if a species that is better suited to tail feathers is presented with the opportunity to infest a different type of feather, they will make an attempt to eat those feathers but will fail to ...