sucking louse

plural sucking lice

1. Any louse of the suborder Anoplura.

   Of the 200 or so species of sucking lice, only three infest man: the body louse, Pediculus humanus, the head louse, P. capitis and the pubic louse, Pthirus pubis (also known as the crab louse).

   2006, Norman Gratz, Vector- and Rodent-Borne Diseases in Europe and North America, page 83

   2 more examples

   The tailed Old World monkeys (Cercopithecidae) support sucking lice of a distinct genus, Pedicinus which has certain similarities to Pediculus and has been placed by most authorities (though not by Ferris) in the Pediculidae.

   1970, Roy Albert Crowson, Classification and Biology, published 2009, page 119

   In fact, if, as claimed, the "love lice" don't consume blood, then they're not pubic lice, or any other kind of sucking lice, either, since all sucking lice require blood (not dead skin cells) to live.

   2009, May Berenbaum, The Earwig's Tail: A Modern Bestiary of Multi-legged Legends, page 27

   Synonyms: anopluran