A new genus and two new species of feather lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) from New Zealand endemic passerines (Aves: Passeriformes)
Author
Valim, Michel P.
Author
Palma, Ricardo L.
text
Zootaxa
2015
3926
4
480
498
journal article
41914
10.11646/zootaxa.3926.4.2
ddb78d00-befa-42e1-ba9c-992adf5f5def
1175-5326
232349
300F365A-D4EA-4CE8-BBEC-F307E91CD0E6
The
Brueelia
-complex
At present, the
Brueelia
-complex includes the following genera:
Brueelia
Kéler, 1936
,
Bizarrifrons
Eichler, 1938
,
Penenirmus
Clay & Meinertzhagen, 1938
,
Pseudocophorus
Carriker, 1940
,
Debeauxoecus
Conci, 1941b
,
Meropsiella
Conci, 1941a
,
Corvonirmus
Eichler, 1944
,
Sturnidoecus
Eichler, 1944
,
Picophilopterus
Ansari, 1947
,
Traihoriella
Ansari, 1947
,
Turdinirmus
Eichler, 1951
,
Formicaphagus
Carriker, 1957
,
Formicaricola
Carriker, 1957
,
Hirundiniella
Carriker, 1963
,
Maculinirmus
Złotorzycka, 1964
,
Rostrinirmus
Złotorzycka, 1964
,
Buerelius
Clay & Tandan, 1967
,
Osculonirmus
Mey, 1982b
,
Motmotnirmus
Mey & Barker, 2014
, and
Nitzschnirmus
Mey & Barker, 2014
(see
Mey & Barker 2014
: 81).
Clay & Tandan (1967: 34)
defined the
Brueelia
-complex by giving an exhaustive list of characters, which allow placing the genera mentioned above within the complex. For brevity, we do not repeat that list of characters here.
Although
Valim & Palma (2012: 29)
and
Mey & Barker (2014: 81)
included
Furnariphilus
Price & Clayton, 1995
as a member of this complex, the shape of the ventral carina, the pterothoracic chaetotaxy, the shape of tergal plates, and the position of the male genital opening in species of this genus do not agree within the definition of the
Brueelia
-complex as given by
Clay & Tandan (1967: 34)
. Also, we disagree with
Mey & Barker (2014: 81)
regarding the inclusion of
Penenirmus
,
Picophilopterus
and
Rostrinirmus
in the
Brueelia
-complex. In our opinion, these features: (1) tergites fused medially in both sexes, (2) anterior setae on tergites II, (3) male genital opening ventrally, (4) male parameres fused with basal plate, and (5) male subgenital plate with setae, exclude those three genera from the
Brueelia
-complex. Furthermore, based on DNA evidence,
Johnson
et al.
(2001)
clearly showed that
Penenirmus
is more closely related to the
Philopterus
- and
Rallicola
-complexes than to the
Brueelia
-complex. Also, we believe that the genus
Debeauxoecus
belongs in the
Philopterus
-complex based on morphology of the head and molecular evidence (
Eichler 1963: 177; M.P. Valim unpublished data
).
Conversely, other genera such as
Paragoniocotes
Cummings, 1916
and
Meropoecus
Eichler, 1940
should also be included in the
Brueelia
-complex because they possess the key characters listed by
Clay & Tandan (1967: 34)
. Species of
Paragoniocotes
have thick setae situated postero-laterally to the subgenital plate, as in species of the
Rallicola
-complex, but in the former genus those setae are situated on the 'gonapophyses' as in species of the
Brueelia
complex, and not between the gonapophyses and the vulvar margin as in species of the
Rallicola
- complex.