"Mallophaga"

Vince Smith and Rod Page

The "Mallophaga" are a paraphyletic grouping comprising all lice other than the Anoplura. The diagram below displays the range of morphologies of various families of "Mallophaga."

Click on a louse to see which family it belongs to.

Amblycera

A: Menoponidae (all orders of birds, includes the Trinotonidae) 
B: Trinotonidae (most spp.- Ducks, geese and swans) 
C: Laemobothriidae (rails, storks, hawks) 
D: Ricinidae (small passerines, including the Trochiliphagidae of hummingbirds) 
E: Trochiliphagidae (hummingbirds)
F: Boopiidae (most spp.- Australian marsupials) 
G: Gyropidae (cavimorph rodents) 
H: Trimenoponidae (neotropical marsupials & cavimorph rodents) 
I: Abrocomophagidae (a single species from a rodent)

Rhyncophthirina

J: Haematomyzidae (elephants and wart-hogs)

Ischnocera

K: Trichodectidae (mammals) 
L: Philopteridae (all bird orders) 
M: Heptapsogasteridae (Tinamiform birds)

Title Illustration

Morphologies of various Mallophagan families. (Original drawing modified from Lakshminarayana, K. V. (1986). "Data book for the study of chewing lice (Phthiraptera : Insecta)." Records of the Zoological Survey of India: Miscellaneous Publication, Occasional Paper No. 81: 1-63.; modified by R.D.M. Page, 1997).

Note that this diagram is intended to illustrate the morphological diversity of the "mallophaga" and should not be interpreted as a classification scheme for chewing lice. I am currently preparing a generic phylogeny for the Ischnocera however no such scheme exists for the Amblycera to date.