Sucking lice are irritating little
pests that feed on the blood of their host. They attack humans and
animals and their bites are often very irritating. Each species
usually attacks one or a few related species of hosts, and generally
lives on a particular part of the host's body. Eggs are usually
attached to hair of the host; egg of the body louse are laid on
clothing. Sucking lice spend their life on their host and do not
survive long away from it.
. They are small, usually less than 4mm in length, flattened and
wingless. Of course their mouth parts are made for sucking and
they withdraw into the head when not in use. The antennae are
short, threadlike or tapering distally, 3 to 5 segmented. The head
is small and nearly always narrower than the thorax.
There are two subspecies of the common human
louse: Pediculus humanus capitis, the head louse, and P.
humanus humanus, the body louse, or cootie. The body louse is an
important carrier of epidemic typhus; other louse-borne human diseases
are trench fever and relapsing fever. |
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