Subclass Pterygota:
Pterous (winged) insects, develop by metamorphosis
Division Exopterygota
(exo = outer; pteron = wing)
Hemipteroid orders
(hemi = half; pteron = wing)
Order Phthiraptera
(phthir = lice; apterous = wingless)
(Also known as orders Mallophaga & Siphunculata)
COMMON NAMES: Birdlice, biting lice and sucking lice
QUICK DESCRIPTION: These lice are parasites that live amongst the hairs and feathers of birds and mammals. They are small, wingless, and have small eyes, and either chewing or sucking mouthparts. Their legs are equipped with claws so they can cling tightly onto their "host". (They usually spend their whole life on the same host.) Suckers feed on the blood of their host and chewers eat hairs, feathers, and dead skin.
MINUTE DETAILS: Minute to small, apterous, dorsoventrally flattened ectoparasites of birds or mammals; compound eyes reduced or absent, ocelli absent, antennae three- to five-segmented, chewing or sucking mouthparts; prothorax free or fused with pterothorax, legs with unsegmented or two-segmented tarsi, more or less modified for clinging to hair or feathers, one, two, or no tarsal claws; abdomen seven- to ten-segmented, cerci absent.
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