Mallophaga n. pl. (Zool.) An extensive group of insects which are parasitic on birds and mammals, and feed on the feathers and hair; called also bird lice. See Bird louse, under Bird.
... era. Some instructive hints as to differences in the rate of change among different insect groups may be drawn from the study of parasites. For example, V.L. Kellogg (1913) points out that an identical species of the Mallophaga (Bird-lice) infests an Australian Cassowary and two of the South American Rheas; while two species of the same genus (Lipeurus) are common to the African Ostrich and a third kind of South American Rhea. These parasites ... — The Life-Story of Insects • Geo. H. Carpenter