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Pronunciation varies by accent · noun
A chewing louse, any louse of the now obsolete suborder Mallophaga, any true louse that is not a sucking louse..
As a rule, mallophagans are host-specific, each species being restricted and adapted to a single bird species or groups of closely related bird species.
Most are associated with birds (although at least one hundred species deign to dine on mammalian body tissues); the majority of mallophagans on birds (and hence the majority of mallophagans in general) have a pair of well-developed claws on the tips of their tarsi.
While these mouthparts are not primarily designed to pierce skin some mallophagans do feed on blood. Menacanthus stramineus, a present-day mallophagan, feeds at the base of feathers or on the skin of the chicken.
Use mallophagan when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Mallophagan means A chewing louse, any louse of the now obsolete suborder Mallophaga, any true louse that is not a sucking louse..
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
As a rule, mallophagans are host-specific, each species being restricted and adapted to a single bird species or groups of closely related bird species.
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