Philopteroides Mey, 2004

Valim, Michel P. & Palma, Ricardo L., 2013, Three new species of the genus Philopteroides Mey, 2004 (Phthiraptera, Ischnocera, Philopteridae) from New Zealand, ZooKeys 297, pp. 71-89 : 72-73

Philopteroides Mey, 2004

Type species.

Philopteroides novaezelandiae Mey, 2004 (by original designation).

Two species-groups:

beckeri species-group: two species

mitsusui species-group: ten species

Host distribution.

Passeriformes , suborder Acanthisitti ( Acanthisittidae ), and suborder Passeri ( Acanthizidae , Meliphagidae , Monarchidae Nectariniidae , Petroicidae , Platysteiridae , Pycnonotidae , Rhipiduridae ).

Geographical range.

Africa (Senegal, Uganda), Asia (India, Vietnam, Taiwan), Oceania (Micronesia, New Zealand).

In addition to those characters mentioned by Mey (2004) in his original description of the genus, we add further diagnostic characters to support the generic position of Philopteroides within the Philopterus -complex.

Diagnosis.

Member of the Philopterus -complex by presence of well-developed trabeculae. Anterior dorsal head plate with posterior median projection well developed and sclerotized, but without antero-lateral projections. Hyaline membrane and anterior head plates deeply concave forming an “osculum” (mitsusui group) (Figs 11-12, 34, 36); some species with wide frons (beckeri group) (Figs 9-10). Hyaline membrane deeply or slightly concave, arising from the level of the tips of the marginal carinae or above the anterior setae 3 (as3), with a conspicuous median sclerotization and without additional setae. Marginal carina not interrupted laterally, but with a conspicuous lateral suture on the dorsal surface, at the level of the posterior dorsal sub-medial setae (d.sm.s.). Conus ranging from much reduced to well developed. Marginal temporal setae 2 (m.t.s.2) and pre-ocular setae (p.o.s.) median to short. Prothoracic dorsal setae close to the middle of the segment, and to its posterior margin. Pleuro-tergal plates II–IV without postero-lateral projections ('posterior heads’), but few species with at most a slightly pronounced angle on segment II, but not on III or IV. Spine-like setae present on some of the sternites II–VI.

Note.

Docophorus lineatus Giebel, 1874 was included in Philopteroides by Mey (2004: 174), when he described it as a new genus. Considering that Giebel’s types of this species were lost during the Second World War, and that we have not been able to examine any material from the type host, we follow Mey (2004) in including Docophorus lineatus in Philopteroides , but we are unable to place it in any of the two species-groups which we define below. A neotype for Docophorus lineatus is urgently needed to clearly define this species.