CreatureData

Cootie

Pediculus humanus Linnaeus, 1758

Status not recordedinsects

The cootie (Pediculus humanus) is a species in the family Pediculidae, order Psocodea. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Iran.

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Quick facts about the cootie

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the cootie live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The cootie is listed for 1 country.

Iran
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Iran

Why a country list is not a range map

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the cootie as introduced in 1 country.

  1. Ecuador

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the cootie endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the cootie classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderPsocodea
  5. familyPediculidae
  6. genusPediculus
  7. SpeciesPediculus humanus Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Pediculus capitis, Pediculus corporis, Pediculus vestimenti

Other names and names in other languages (28)
  • Body louseEnglish
  • Gray backEnglish
  • Head louseEnglish
  • Human louseEnglish
  • قمل الإنسانArabic
  • Pioyu humanuAsturian
  • veš šatníCzech
  • MenneskelusDanish
  • MenschenlausGerman
  • Piojo humanoSpanish
  • vaatetäiFinnish
  • Pou de l'hommeFrench
  • Pidocchio dell'uomoItalian
  • ヒトジラミJapanese
  • 이Korean
  • HoofdluisDutch
  • Wesz ludzkaPolish
  • piolhoPortuguese
  • Человеческая вошьRussian
  • človeška ušSlovenian
  • klädlusSwedish
  • เหามนุษย์Thai
  • İnsan BitiTurkish
  • 人蝨Chinese
  • KleiderlausGerman
  • huvudlusSwedish
  • klädeslusSwedish
  • människolusSwedish

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the cootie

Other species in the same genus Pediculus.

CompareCootie vs Chimpanzee louseCootie vs Pediculus apisCootie vs Pediculus bidendatusCootie vs Pediculus clavicornis

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Where does the cootie live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the cootie for 1 country: Iran. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the cootie an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the cootie as introduced in 1 country: Ecuador, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the cootie?

The cootie (Pediculus humanus) belongs to the family Pediculidae in the order Psocodea.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Cootie (Pediculus humanus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cootie

MLA

“Cootie (Pediculus humanus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cootie.

BibTeX
@misc{cootie_2026,
  title = {Cootie (Pediculus humanus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cootie},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}