Louse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Phthiraptera |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Fahrenholzia pinnata | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Subclass: | |
| Infraclass: | |
| Order: |
Phthiraptera
Haeckel, 1896
|
| Suborders | |
|
lice is a bug dont get confused with dry scalp with heath its lice |
|
Lice (singular: louse), are wingless insects that live in hair. They are all external parasites on every species of bird and most mammalian orders. They are not found on Monotremes and a few eutherian orders, namely the bats (Chiroptera), whales, dolphins and porpoises (Cetacea) and pangolins (Pholidota). There are more than 3,000 different species; three are classified as human lice.
Description
Lice spend their whole life on the host. They are adapted to keep close contact with the host. These adaptations are reflected in their size (0.5–8 mm), stout legs, and claws which are adapted to clinging tightly to hair, fur and feathers. They are also wingless and flattened.
Lice feed on skin (epidermal) debris, feather parts, sebaceous secretions and blood. A louse's color varies from pale beige to dark grey; however, if feeding on blood, it may become considerably darker.
A louse's egg is commonly called a nit. Lice attach their eggs to their host's hair with specialized saliva which results in a bond that is very difficult to separate without specialized products. Living lice eggs tend to be pale white. Dead lice eggs are more yellow. Lice are very annoying and are difficult to remove, but not impossible. The process is called nit-picking, and is often done with a close-toothed metal comb. For humans, anti-insect shampoos are available.
Classification
The order has traditionally been divided into two suborders; the sucking lice (Anoplura) and chewing lice (Mallophaga). Four suborders are now recognised:
- Anoplura: sucking lice, including head lice
- Rhyncophthirina: parasites of elephants and warthogs
- Ischnocera: avian lice
- Amblycera: chewing lice, a primitive order of lice
- Amblycera: Jumping Lice have very strong hind legs and can jump a distance of three feet
It has been suggested that the order is contained by the Troctomorpha suborder of Psocoptera. What this means is that lice may have evolved from free-living species of that group.
Lice and humans
Humans are unique in that they host three different species of lice: head lice and body lice (which live mainly in clothing). The DNA differences between head lice and body lice provide supporting evidence that humans started wearing clothes at approximately 70,000 BCE.
Recent DNA evidence suggests that lice spread to the ancestors of humans approximately 3.3 million years ago from the ancestors of gorillas by sharing some areas with them
Gallery
-
The chewing louse Damalinia limbata is found on Angora goats. The male louse (right) is typically smaller than the female (left), whose posterior margin of the abdomen is more rounded than those of male lice.
-
Diagram of a louse, by Robert Hooke, 1667.
-
Trichodectes canis, the biting dog louse
Other pages
Images for kids
-
Detail showing delousing from Jan Siberechts' painting Cour de ferme ("Farmyard"), 1662
-
Mother Louse, a notorious Alewife in Oxford during the mid-18th century. Her crest includes three lice. Image by David Loggan.
-
Ricinus bombycillae, an amblyceran louse from a Bohemian waxwing
-
Trinoton anserinum, an amblyceran louse from a mute swan
.JPG)
.JPG)
See also
In Spanish: Phthiraptera para niños
