Welcome to Phthiraptera.myspecies.info

Lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) are permanent, obligate ectoparasites of birds and mammals. Most are highly host specific, and consequently lice are present in every continent and virtually every habitat occupied by birds and mammals. This website is a collection or digital resources on parasitic lice. This includes extensive literature, image and checklist databases. Major contributors include Dr. Vince Smith from the Natural History Museum, London and the late Dr. Bob Dalgleish. From 2006 these resources are managed by Vince Smith on behalf of the International Society of Phthirapterists, an informal group of specialists working on various aspects of parasitic louse biology. If you would like to contribute to this website please contact Vince Smith.

Cite as: Smith, V.S, Broom, Y. and Dalgleish, R †. Phthiraptera.info (web resource). Accessed Day-Month-Year. http://phthiraptera.myspecies.info/

RECENT NEWS:

1) Mar. 2023: ICP7 is likely to be an online meeting this year, with hopes for an in person meet in 2025. For more details see the meeting website.

2) Mar. 2023. The latest edition of the ISOP newsletter is available from on the ISOP newsletter page, including the 2022 list of Phthiraptera publications. Yoke-Shum (Sam) Broom who does most of the curation on this site, will be adding the publications in due course to make sure the medical references are as up to date as the taxonomic publications.