Brueelia conocephala (Blagoveshtchensky, 1940)

Gustafsson, Daniel R., Oslejskova, Lucie, Najer, Tomas, Sychra, Oldrich & Zou, Fasheng, 2019, Redescriptions of thirteen species of chewing lice in the Brueelia - complex (Phthiraptera, Ischnocera, Philopteridae), with one new synonymy and a neotype designation for Nirmus lais Giebel, 1874, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 66 (1), pp. 17-39 : 23-25

Brueelia conocephala (Blagoveshtchensky, 1940) Figs 34-35 , 36-40

Degeeriella conocephala Blagoveshtchensky, 1940: 64.

Brueelia conocephalus (Blagoveshtchensky, 1940); Hopkins and Clay 1952: 54.

Brueelia conocephala (Blagoveshtchensky, 1940); Gustafsson and Bush 2017: 39.

Brueelia weberi Balát, 1982: 44, new synonymy.

Type host.

Sitta europaea caucasica Reichenow, 1901, Eurasian nuthatch ( Sittidae ).

Type locality.

Alexeyevka, Talysh Lowlands, Lenkoran province [= Lankaran], Azerbaijan.

Other hosts.

Sitta europaea caesia Wolf, 1810. Sitta europaea rubiginosa Tschusi & Zarodny, 1905. Parus major Linnaeus, 1758. See Gustafsson et al. (2018b) for a discussion on the type host of this species.

Description.

Both sexes. Head rounded triangular (Fig. 36 ), lateral margins of preantennal area more or less straight, in some specimens slightly concave or convex, frons narrowly concave. Marginal carina broad, widening slightly in anterior third, with undulating median margins. Ventral anterior plate shield-shaped, with anterior margin slightly concave. Head chaetotaxy and pigmentation patterns as in Figure 36 . Preantennal nodi not bulging. Pre-ocular nodi much larger than postocular nodi. Marginal temporal carina moderate in width, with undulating median margin. Gular plate diffuse in most examined specimens, but seemingly rounded lanceolate. Thoracic and abdominal segments and pigmentation patterns as in Figures 34 , 35 .

Male. Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figure 34 . Basal apodeme of more or less even width, lateral margins only slightly concave (Fig. 37 ). Proximal mesosome rounded trapezoidal, with concave lateral margins (Fig. 38 ). Mesosomal lobes broad, with almost parallel lateral margins; rugose area extensive along distal margin. Gonopore semi-oval, about as wide as long. Penile arms almost reach distal margin of mesosome. Parameres slender proximally, broad at mid-point, and tapering distally, elongated (Fig. 39 ); pst1-2 as in Figure 39 . Measurements ex Sitta europaea caesia (n = 13): TL = 1.39-1.53 (1.49); HL = 0.38-0.40 (0.39); HW = 0.27- 0.30 (0.29); PRW = 0.16-0.18 (0.17); PTW = 0.25-0.29 (0.27); AW = 0.31-0.39 (0.36). Measurements ex Parus major major (n = 1): TL = 1.47; HL = 0.37; HW = 0.29; PRW = 0.18; PTW = 0.26; AW = 0.36.

Female. Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figure 35 . Subgenital plate shaped as in Figure 40 , with broad connection to cross-piece. Vulval margin convergent to median point or slightly rounded medianly. Vulval chaetotaxy different but overlapping between material from the two host species: 3-5 short, slender vms and 2-4 short, thorn-like vss on each side in specimens from Sitta europaea caesia , but 3 or 4 short, slender vms and 3 or 4 short, thorn-like vss on each side in specimens from Parus major major . Material from both host species has 3 or 4 short, slender vos on each side of subgenital plate, with distal 1 vos median to or only slightly anterior to vss. Measurements ex Sitta europaea caesia (n = 24, except PRW where n = 23): TL = 1.68-1.92 (1.79); HL = 0.42-0.44 (0.43); HW = 0.31-0.34 (0.33); PRW = 0.18-0.21 (0.20); PTW = 0.28-0.33 (0.31); AW = 0.35-0.47 (0.43). Measurements ex Parus major major (n = 5): TL = 1.81-1.95; HL = 0.41-0.44; HW = 0.33-0.35; PRW = 0.20-0.22; PTW = 0.30-0.33; AW = 0.43-0.49.

Type material.

Holotype ♀ of Brueelia weberi , Serrahn, [Kreis Neustrelitz, Germany], 7 Oct. 1977, F. Balát, 1448 (MMBC). Paratypes of Brueelia weberi : 1♀, same data as holotype, F. Balát, 1449 (MMBC). 1♂, 3♀, Chropyně, Czechia, 3 Nov. 1977, F. Balát, 1381a-d (MMBC).

Non-type material. Ex Sitta europaea caesia : 10♂, 19♀, Košice, Slovakia, 5 Nov. 1953, F. Balát, 1080 (MMBC). 1♂, Lednice - Kančí obora, Czechia, 10 Jun. 1953, F. Balát, 1079 (MMBC). 1♀, Hodonín, Czechia, 12. Feb. 1954, F. Balát, 1078 (MMBC). 2♂, 4♀, Hodonín, Czechia, 24 Nov. 1952, F. Balát, 651 (MMBC).

Remarks.

Balát (1982) explicitly designated the female on slide 1448 as the holotype Brueelia weberi , and several other specimens as paratypes. This is confirmed in his handwritten notes on the slides. All specimens are present in the MMBC collection, with the exception that there is only one slide marked “Pfl90”. However, this female and one of the paratype males (slide 1411) represent a separate species (see below) and have, therefore, been excluded from the paratypes.

We have examined Balát’s type and non-type material identified as B. weberi , and compared these with his extensive collection of B. conocephala from Sitta europaea caesia . No diagnostic characters that could separate these two species have been found, and most measurements for specimens from P. major fall within the range of the measurements for specimens from S. europaea . We therefore consider B. weberi to be a synonym of B. conocephala . There is enough variation in the head shape and measurements of Balát’s specimens of B. conocephala to accommodate the perceived differences in dimensions reported by Balát (1982), and the reported differences in the shape of the parameres can be ascribed to individual variation or artificial differences due to mounting.

Balát collected B. weberi from several localities, and it would appear that this species is well established on the host, Parus major . This is in contrast to the only other material known from birds in the P. major -complex reported by Gustafsson et al. (2018b). They described two species of Brueelia ( B. picea Gustafsson et al. 2018b and B. nazae Gustafsson et al. 2018b) which they did not consider to be closely related to B. conocephala . However, all material Gustafsson et al. (2018b) examined was from non-European members of the P. major -complex.

Interestingly, the “paratype” male on slide 1411 ( Břeclav - Kančí obora, Czechia, 5 Mar. 1954, F. Balát, 1411, MMBC) and “paratype” female on slide Pfl90 (Chuchle, Czechia, 28 Jan. 1938, K. Pfleger, Pfl90, MMBC) represent a different, undescribed, species of Brueelia . The male specimen is similar to B. nazae in head shape, but more similar to B. picea in the shape of the genitalia; the abdominal chaetotaxy is different from both species, with aps on abdominal segment IV (absent in both B. picea and B. nazae ). The female specimen is slightly different in head shape from the male specimen, and may represent a different species. We do not describe this species here, as more material is needed to sort out whether both spe cies of Brueelia actually occur on P. major in Europe, or whether Pfleger’s and Balát’s material originated in contaminations or stragglers.

Figures

Figures 34, 35. Brueelia conocephala (Blagoveshchensky, 1940) ex Sitta europaea (Linnaeus, 1758) 34 Male habitus, dorsal and ventral views 35 Female habitus, dorsal and ventral views.

Figures 36 - 40. Brueelia conocephala (Blagoveshchensky, 1940) ex Sitta europaea (Linnaeus, 1758) 36 Male head, dorsal and ventral views 37 Male genitalia, dorsal view 38 Male mesosome, ventral view 39 Male paramere, dorsal view 40 Female subgenital plate and vulval margin, ventral view.