Talegalligogus wilhelmi waigeuensis, Mey, 2013

Mey, Eberhard, 2013, Chewing lice (Insecta, Phthiraptera) off Bruijn’s Brush-turkey Aepypodius bruijnii from New Guinea (AVes, Galliformes, Megapodiidae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 63 (2), pp. 313-323 : 315

Talegalligogus wilhelmi waigeuensis n. ssp.

( Fig. 1 , Table 1)

Type host: Aepypodius bruijnii (OUSTALET, 1880) .

Material examined:

1 ♀ (M. 3844. d - holotype) off an old skin (C 8228) from Laglaize, Waigeo, in MTKD, leg. E. Mey (30.x.1992). Holotype in NHMRud.

Diagnosis:

Female: I have named this well-preserved ♀ as a new subspecies of “ Colpocephalum wilhelmi PRICE & BEER, 1964 ” (type host: Aepypodius arfakianus ), since only the shape and the structure (e. g. preocular region) of the head (see Figs 1 and 2 ) and slight differences in the setae pattern of the abdominal tergites deviate from the nominate form, with which it seems to share all other morphological characters. The number of setae in the row on the posterior margin of the tergites, each between the post-spiracular setae, varies per segment between the nominate form (according to a ♀ M. 902.g off the type host in NHMRud collection and the description by PRICE & BEER 1964: 398 f. of a ♀) and waigeuensis only very slightly, although the latter does possess more macrochaetae there (see Table 1). The number of posterior metanotal setae in wilhelmi is 30, in waigeuensis 28, of which only three on the corners of each side take the form of thick, mediumlength macrochaetae.

Measurements:

(in parentheses the measurements of one ♀ T. w. wilhelmi ): TL 1.69 (1.90), HL 0.42 (0.39), HW 0.36 (0.38), HWT 0.51 (0.54), HI 0.82 (0.72), PW 0.38 (0.39), MW 0.59 (0.60), AW 0.66 (0.71).

Male: Unknown.

Remarks:

T. w. wilhelmi and the considerably smaller, always distinctly different-looking “ Colpocephalum arfakiani PRICE & BEER, 1964 ”, occur synhospitalically even on the same host individual, whereby arfakiani (according to my collecting experience) is clearly the commoner species. Here, wilhelmi is transferred provisional to Talegalligogus (type species “ Colpocephalum talegallae PRICE & BEER, 1964 ” ex type host Talegalla cuvieri ), which cannot be done with arfakiani until further studies have been carried out. A similar species-pair (and genus-pair?) can also be expected on Aepypodius bruijnii .

Etymology:

Named for the island of Waigeo (here transcribed as Waigeu) off the north-west tip of New Guinea, where Bruijn’s Brush-turkey is endemic.

Figures

Figs 1-2: Shape of head of Talegalligogus wilhelmi ssp., females: 1. waigeuensis n. ssp. – 2. wilhelmi. – Scale 0.1 mm.