Life Cycle of Crab Lice

Crab (pubic) lice are crab-like in appearance and have claws to help them cling to the coarse hairs of humans while they suck blood. Crab lice spend their entire life cycle attached to their human hosts and die quickly when separated.

  1. Types

    • There are three types of human lice--head lice, body lice and pubic (crab) lice. Crab lice live primarily on pubic hair but also on armpit or chest hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, beards and mustaches.

    Egg

    • Female crab lice lay 30 tiny dark brown eggs (nits) that attach to the base of coarse hairs and hatch in about six days.

    Nymph

    • After the egg hatches, the crab louse becomes a nymph. This nymph goes through three distinct molting stages before it becomes an adult.

    Adult

    • Adult crab lice are beige to pink in color, about a sixteenth of an inch long, and have crab-like claws on their back and middle legs. They are sedentary and live from three to four weeks.

    Transmission

    • The crab louse is passed from person to person through sexual or at least intimate body contact. Unlike head or body lice, transfer through objects like clothing or sheets is rare.

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