Anaticola crassicornis ( Scopoli, 1763 )

Naz, Saima, Rizvi, Syed Anser & Sychra, Oldrich, 2010, Anaticola crassicornis (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) on wild geese from Pakistan, Zootaxa 2659 (1), pp. 60-66 : 61-65

Anaticola crassicornis ( Scopoli, 1763)

Figs. 1–6

Pediculus crassicornis Scopoli, 1763 . Pediculus anatis Fabricius, 1798 . Lipeurus squalidus Nitzsch, 1818 ; Giebel, 1874; Piaget, 1880. Lipeurus rubromaculatus Rudow, 1870 . Lipeurus constrictus Kellogg, 1896 . Esthinopterum crassicorne Harrison, 1916.

Description. Body elongated, narrow, slightly convex at lateral margins ( Figs. 1, 2).

Head non-circumfaciate, elongate, triangular, narrow anteriorly at preantennal region and wide at postantennal region, temples rounded and smooth, flat dorso-ventrally, prognathous and with lateral hyaline margins.

In preantennal region, anterior head margin narrow, clypeal region narrow; hyaline margin present and evident; marginal carina broken laterally, smooth; premarginal carina reduced, discontinuous, separated from postmarginal carina, furnished with 6 pairs of antero-lateral marginal setae, one pair spine like; marginal carinal nodus absent; dorsal carina absent; ventral carina complete band around oral fossa (pulvinus); transverse carina absent; preantennal nodus small, reduced; conus pointed, smaller than scape in both sexes; trabecula absent; clypeus with characteristic chaetotaxy, 2 short dorsal setae above pulvinus; dorsal anterior plate present, separated from other sclerotization of anterior head by preantennal suture; ventral anterior plate absent; dorsal preantennal suture complete and touching the ends of premarginal carina; pulvinus complete, lobe like, large, slightly depressed anteriorly, fused with ventral carina; torma present.

Antennae heteromorphic, long, filiform, exposed, extending posteriorly; scape of male elongate, slender, without lateral process, with few lateral setae; pedicel small, rectangular, not fused with flagellomeres; flagellomere I different in shape from flagellomeres II and III, with lateral extended process; female segments monomorphic, all equal and similar; flagellomere III with sensitive structures, plate sensilla on lateral to ventral side and sensilla trichoidea on distal end; antennal socket shallow.

Postantennal region with gular plate present, fused laterally and posteriorly, anterior margin smooth and rounded; temporal margin smooth and rounded, marginal temporal carina complete, thin at posterior, thick at postocular region; 5 marginal temporal setae, of which 1, 4 and 5 with microsetae, 2 spine-like, 3 longest, but not reaching end of prothorax; 1 pair of post-temporal microsetae; postocular setae thorn-like, microsetae behind lens; ocular setae thorn-like, microsetae situated on lens; postocular nodus absent; occipital carina absent, occipital nodus not developed.

Thorax divided into two visible segments (prothorax and pterothorax). Prothorax small, roughly rectangular, ventrally articulated to occipital margin of head; anterior setae not seen; postero-lateral setae 1+1, normal; rhombic sclerite cup-shaped. Pterothorax elongate, rectangular, lateral margins slightly concave, smoothly parallel; 4 pairs of posterior macrosetae (2,2+2,2) between lateral setae, macrosetae large; posterior margin straight, smooth, on ventral side weakly V-shaped; trichoid setae present, thorn-like setae present; mesothoracic spiracles pleuro-ventral in position with large atrium; proepimeron expanded, unfused, developed posteriorly towards abdomen; meso-metasternal plate present; meso-metasternal setae minute, 2 pairs as 1,1+1,1; mesofurcal pit absent.

Thoracic legs II and III pleuro-coxal in articulation, elongate, simple; coxa and trochanter small; femur and tibia gradually elongated from leg I to III; tarsus 1-segmented, bearing two strong, curved, pointed claws and three hyaline spines.

Abdomen elongate, slender, lateral margins straight in male and slightly concave in female, size large in female, tapering towards posterior; segments of equal size except segments II and XI; medio-tergal division present in segment II; submedian to median setae on segments III–VIII absent; latero-posterior setae on segments II and III absent; segments IV and V with 2 pairs, segment VIII with 3 pairs; 1 pair of sternal setae as 1+1 on segments III–VII; 6 pairs of abdominal spiracles with small atria; tergites and sternites weakly sclerotized, pleurites deeply sclerotized to form strong lateral margin; pleural abdominal ribs enlarged; lateral trichoid setae on segment VIII present.

Dorsal plate on terminal segments divided into anterior fused segments IX and X and posterior segment XI ( Fig. 4 ), anterior plate limited to tergo-pleurites, tergite XI not fused, bearing 2 pairs of long macrosetae latero-posteriorly between junction of fused segments X and XI; female genitalia comprised of a bilobed vulval sclerite bearing a row of small setae on vulval margin ( Fig. 5 ), situated between segments VIII and IX on ventral side; genital opening vertical, ventro-terminal in position; genital plate weakly sclerotized.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 6 ) reaching to segment VI, simple ( Figs. 4, 6 ); basal apodeme of medium width, moderately sclerotized, slender, elongate, straight; paramere short, tube-like, fused anteriorly with lateral mesosomal plate; penis elongated, narrow, tubular, bifid anteriorly, Y-shaped, thickly sclerotized, situated between the mesosomal sclerites; endomeral plate thin and tapering posteriorly into two pointed ends.

Measurements (in mm). Male (n = 5): total length (TL): 3.2 (3.1–3.3); head length in midline (HL): 0.72 (0.7–0.75); preantennal width (PAW): 0.34 (0.33–0.35); temporal width (TW): 0.46 (0.45–0.47 mm); pronotal length (PL): 0.19 (0.18–0.2); pronotal width (PW): 0.35 (0.3–0.4); pteronotal length (PtL): 0.485 (0.48–0.49); pteronotal width (PtW): 0.48 (0.475 –0.485); abdominal length in mid line of dorsal side (AL): 1.80 (1.75– 1.85); genitalia length (GL): 0.65 (0.63–0.67); genitalia width at parameres (GW): 0.105 (0.09–0.12); length of parameres (PML): 0.17 (0.15–0.19). Female (n = 5): TL: 3.65 (3.6–3.7); HL: 0.765 (0.76–0.77); PAW: 0.36 (0.34–0.38); TW: 0.47 (0.45–0.49); PL: 0.22 (0.21–0.23); PW: 0.37 (0.36–0.38); PtL: 0.52 (0.51–0.53); PtW: 0.58 (0.56–0.6); AL: 2.39 (2.37–2.41).

Material examined. Four males, 10 females from A. indicus ; 3 males, 8 females from A. albifrons ; 9 males, 12 females from A. anser, Aug. 2005 to Aug. 2007, Pakistan: Karachi, Thatta, leg. S. A. Rizvi and S. Naz.

1 According to Clay & Hopkins (1951). 2 According to Zlotorzycka (1980).

Remarks. Anaticola crassicornis closely resembles A. anseris in having an elongate body with dark brown lateral margins, and the two species have similar head chaetotaxy, a temporal margin, pterothoracic characters, and abdominal chaetotaxy. Anaticola crassicornis can easily be differentiated from A. anseris , however, by clypeal features, body size, pterothoracic lateral margins, and male genitalia ( Table 2).

Figures

FIGURES 3–6. Anaticola crassicornis. 3. Male, ventral view. 4. Terminalia of male in dorsal view (including segments VI–X). 5. Terminalia of female. 6. Male genitalia, ventral view.