Brueelia cantans, Sychra, 2010

Sychra, Oldŕich, Literák, Ivan, Najer, Tomáš, Čapek, Miroslav, Koubek, Petr & Procházka, Petr, 2010, Chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from estrildid finches (Aves: Passeriformes: Estrildidae) and louse-flies (Insecta: Diptera: Hippoboscidae) from birds in Senegal, with descriptions of three new species of the genus Brueelia, Zootaxa 2714, pp. 59-68 : 62-64

Brueelia cantans, Sychra , new species

( Figs. 2, 5–6, 14–15)

Type host: Euodice cantans (Gmelin) : African silverbill.

Male (n = 6). Typical pattern of sclerotization and pigmentation involving head, gular and ventral thoracic plates, sternites and pleurites. Preantennal region as long as postantennal region. The entire marginal carina uninterrupted with lateral side almost straight. In spite of this, head rather egg-shaped than triangular ( Fig. 14). Metasternal plate pigmented, without central unpigmented “hole”. Pronotum with 1 seta on each posterolateral corner; metanotum with 7 setae (3 long, 4 short) on each posterolateral margin. Metathorax with concave lateral sides ( Fig. 5). All abdominal tergites divided centrally, tergites VI –VII of characteristic shape ( Fig. 2). Tergal setae on each side as follows: tergites II–IV, 0 (only one male with single seta on one side of tergite IV); V, 3; VI –VII, 6–8; VIII, 4–6; IX, 4–5 ( Fig. 2), terminally with 6 setae. Post-spiracular sensillus present on tergites II–VII. Abdominal sterna with a pair of setae. Male genitalia as in Fig. 6. Parameres narrow and quite long, each with a very short subapical seta on the lateral margin. Endomeral complex contains a pair of sacs of square shape, with two small medial circular spots and denticulated posterior margin.

Dimensions: PAW, 0.20; PAL, 0.14–0.15; TW, 0.25; POL, 0.14–0.15; HL, 0.28–0.30; PW, 0.15–0.17; MW, 0.23–0.29; AWV, 0.33–0.38; TL, 1.29–1.37; GW, 0.065 –0.075 .

Female (n = 7). Similar to male except tergal setae on each side of abdominal segments as follows: II– V, 0; VI –VIII, 1; IX, 4 (2 long, 2 short). Subgenital plate ( Fig. 15) wide, slightly convex posteriorly, with characteristic pigmentation as shown.

Dimensions: PAW, 0.21–0.24; PAL, 0.16–0.18; TW, 0.26–0.28; POL, 0.14–0.17; HL, 0.30–0.34; PW, 0.17–0.19; MW, 0.28–0.30; AWV, 0.44–0.49; TL, 1.75–1.82.

Type material. Male holotype, female allotype, from Euodice cantans , SENEGAL: Matam (15° 37ʹ N, 13° 20ʹ W), 6 September 2007, Literák, Č apek & Koubek leg. Paratypes: 4 males, 5 females with the same data as holotype, deposited in the Moravian Museum Brno, Czech Republic ( MZM) (O.Sychra-SE61–SE65); paratypes: 1 male, 1 female, same data as holotype, deposited in the Natural History Museum, London ( NHML) (O.Sychra-SE66) .

Remarks. An egg-shaped head with uninterrupted marginal carina distinguishes B. cantans from all other Brueelia from estrildids except B. munia Ansari that has an oval preantenal region. Brueelia cantans can be separated from the latter by a higher number of setae on tergite V–VIII of male and different male genitalia. The typical pattern of sclerotization and pigmentation involving head, gular and ventral thoracic plates and sternites places B. cantans close to Brueelia known from weavers ( Ploceidae )— B. plocea Lakshminarayana and an undescribed Brueelia queleae Sychra & Barlev ( Sychra et al., 2010) . Brueelia cantans differs from both species by 1) straight lateral sides of preantennal region, 2) endomeral complex of male with a pair of sacs of square shape, 3) light brown pigmentation involving sternites and subgenital plate ( B. plocea as well as B. queleae have very dark brown pigmentation forming conspicuous stripes).