Lice have been the subjects of significant DNA research that has led to discoveries on human evolution.

For example, recent DNA evidence suggests that pubic lice spread to humans approximately two million years ago from gorillas.

Additionally, the DNA differences between head lice and body lice provide corroborating evidence that humans started losing body hair, also about two million years ago.

Genetic analysis suggests that the human body louse may have originated about one hundred and seven thousand years ago from the head louse after the invention of clothing, with the ancestor of all human lice emerging about seven hundred and seventy thousand years ago.