Picophilopterus tuktola Ansari, 1947

Naz, Saima, Najer, Tomas & Gustafsson, Daniel R., 2020, An annotated list of the species of lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) described by Mohammad A. - R. Ansari, Zootaxa 4809 (3), pp. 401-448 : 435

Picophilopterus tuktola Ansari, 1947

Picophilopterus tuktola Ansari, 1947: 265 , figs 4a–c.

Current status: Penenirmus tuktola ( Ansari, 1947) ; see Remarks, below.

Type host: Picus squamatus squamatus Vigors.

Type locality: Kullu [as Kulu], India .

Type material: Two paratype females deposited in the NHML [slide NHML010684468 ]. The holotype female and the “Numerous males and females” recorded by Ansari (1947: 266) as paratypes appear to be lost .

Remarks: Dalgleish (1972: 98) regarded Picophilopterus tuktola as a junior synonym of Penenirmus pici ( Fabricius, 1798) , stating that there were no significant differences between these two species. However, Ansari’s (1947, fig. 4a) illustration of the female head of P. tuktola shows the temporal setae as two elongate setae and one shorter seta, a feature that does not agree with P. pici , but that is closer to P. arcticus Carriker, 1961 , using key to species of Dalgleish (1972: 85). Also, the shape of the head illustrated by Ansari (1947) differs from that of P. pici illustrated by Dalgleish (1972: fig. 12). Our examination of other species of Penenirmus from woodpeckers suggests that Dalgleish (1972) was very conservative in regard to accepting several nominal species as valid. Although we have not seen any specimen, we here tentatively resurrect Penenirmus tuktola as a separate species, until new material from the type host becomes available for study, redescription and comparison with related species.