Brueelia sp.

Gustafsson, Daniel R., Grossi, Alexandra A., Halajian, Ali & Engelbrecht, Derek, 2024, New species and new records of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) from South Africa, Zootaxa 5446 (1), pp. 88-104 : 100

Brueelia sp.

Host: Bradornis mariquensis mariquensis Smith, 1847 —Mariqua flycatcher. Straggler?

A single female from this host was examined, which keys out to Brueelia sima in the key of Gustafsson et al. (2019a). However, based on the pigmentation patterns of the subgenital plate, it is more closely related to some Brueelia species from Ploceus spp. Considering that some characters, such as abdominal and vulval chaetotaxy, are largely conserved throughout most species of Brueelia , we are unable to identify or describe this specimen further. More louse collections from Bradornis mariquensis are needed to identify this species, and confirm that this is the natural host of our specimen. Notably, most other flycatchers are parasitized by species of Guimaraesiella Eichler, 1949 rather than Brueelia (see Gustafsson & Bush 2017), but few records of Brueelia have been published from flycatchers, and host associations may be influenced by environmental factors ( Takano et al. 2019).

Material examined. Ex Bradornis mariquensis mariquensis : 1♀, Polokwane Game Reserve, Polokwane, Limpopo Province, South Africa, 17 Mar. 2013, coll. A. Halajian, SAFRING AR30085, Bi-Bramar 7 ( NHML) .