Editing Louse (section)

===Evolutionary history===
The oldest confirmed fossil louse is ''[[Archimenopon myanmarensis]]'', an [[amblycera]]n from the Cretaceous amber from [[Myanmar]].<ref name=Archimenopon /> Another early representative of the group is a bird louse, ''[[Megamenopon rasnitsyni]]'', from [[Eckfelder Maar]], Germany, which dates to the [[Eocene]], around 44 million years ago.<ref name="Scratching an ancient itch: an Eoce">{{cite journal | vauthors = Wappler T, Smith VS, Dalgleish RC | title = Scratching an ancient itch: an Eocene bird louse fossil | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 271 Suppl 5 | issue = suppl_5 | pages = S255-8 | date = August 2004 | pmid = 15503987 | pmc = 1810061 | doi = 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0158 }}</ref> ''[[Saurodectes vrsanskyi]]'' from the Early Cretaceous ([[Aptian]]) [[Zaza Formation]] of [[Buryatia]], Russia, has also been suggested to be a louse, but this is tentative.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rasnitsyn AP, Zherikhin VV | title = First fossil chewing louse from the lower Cretaceous of Baissa, Transbaikalia (Insecta, Pediculida= Phthiriaptera, Saurodectidae fam. n.). | journal = Russian Entomological Journal | date = 1999 | volume = 8 | issue = 4 | pages = 253–5 }}</ref>

Placental mammal lice had a single common ancestor that lived on [[Afrotheria]] with this arising from host-switching from an ancient avian host.<ref name="p273">{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Kevin P. |last2=Matthee |first2=Conrad |last3=Doña |first3=Jorge |date=2022 |title=Phylogenomics reveals the origin of mammal lice out of Afrotheria |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=6 |issue=8 |pages=1205–1210 |doi=10.1038/s41559-022-01803-1 |pmid=35788706 |bibcode=2022NatEE...6.1205J |issn=2397-334X}}</ref>