Louse
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Louse is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2
Fahrenholzia pinnata
Bovicola limbata, an ischnoceran louse from goats. The species is sexually dimorphic, with the male smaller than the female.
Drawing of a louse clinging to a human hair. Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1667
Detail showing delousing from Jan Siberechts' painting Cour de ferme ("Farmyard"), 1662
Body louse
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The body louse or clothing louse, informally called the cootie, is a hematophagic ectoparasite louse that infests humans. It is one of three lice which infest humans, the other two being the head lous
Louse
…which moult three times before becoming fully grown, a process that takes about four weeks. Humans host two species of louse—the head louse and the body louse are subspecies of Pediculus humanus; and the pubic louse, Pthirus pubis. Lice are vectors of diseases such as typhus. Lice were ubiquitous in human…
Body lice