Welcome to Phthiraptera.info

This is the website of the International Society of Phthirapterists (ISoP) which comprises approximately 100 clinicians, veterinary scientists, evolutionary biologists, and taxonomists working on various aspects of parasitic louse biology. The Society aims to advance the study of Phthiraptera (lice) and louse-borne diseases in all its aspects of theory, principles, methodology, and practice. With this object in mind the Society is organised and operated as a non-profit organisation exclusively for scientific and educational purposes.

Lice (singular: louse) is the common name for over 5,000 species of wingless insects of the order Phthiraptera. They are obligate permanent ectoparasites of every avian and most mammalian orders.