Alcedoecus anularis Ansari, 1955

Naz, Saima, Najer, Tomas & Gustafsson, Daniel R., 2020, An annotated list of the species of lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) described by Mohammad A. - R. Ansari, Zootaxa 4809 (3), pp. 401-448 : 415

Alcedoecus anularis Ansari, 1955

Alcedoecus anularis Ansari, 1955e: 45 .

Alcedoecus annularis [sic] Ansari, 1956a: 397. Junior primary homonym.

Alcedoecus annularis [sic] Ansari, 1955e; Ansari, 1956e: 11.

Alcedoecus annularis [sic] Ansari, 1958c: 92, figs 182–186. Junior primary homonym.

Alcedoecus annulatus annulatus Ansari ; Tendeiro 1965a: 35, photos 15–18. Unjustified emendation.

Current status: Alcedoecus anularis Ansari, 1955e .

Type host: Halcyon smyrnensis smyrnensis (Linnaeus) .

Type locality: Thatta , [as Jati, District Tatta], Sindh, Pakistan .

Type material: No type material of this species has been located, and is presumed lost.

Remarks: The original spelling of this species is “ anularis ”, but Ansari (1956a,e; 1958c) changed it to “ annularis ”. From Ansari’s writings, it is not possible to ascertain which spelling he intended to use, so the original spelling “ anularis ” must prevail and “ annularis ” should be regarded as an “incorrect subsequent spelling” (ICZN 1999, Code Article 33.3). Without any explanation, Tendeiro (1965a) changed Ansari’s name to “ Alcedoecus annulatus annulatus ” and Price et al. (2003: 141) also listed this species as “ Alcedoecus annulatus Ansari, 1995 ”, but this spelling is an “unjustified emendation”. Therefore, to stabilise the nomenclature, we here designate the male on slide NHML010665616, deposited in the NHML, as the neotype of Alcedoecus anularis Ansari, 1955e , with the following data “Host: Halcyon smyrnensis, Imphal , Manipur [ India], 13 Jan. 1952, Meinertzhagen Collection 19714”. The louse identification label on this slide reads “Tendeiro det.”, and this slide is the first listed by Tendeiro (1965a: 35) in his list of specimens examined under Alcedoecus annulatus annulatus . Considering that Tendeiro (1965a) did not designate any type, his specimens examined can not be regarded as syntypes. However, a neotype can be erected for this species, and we designate the same male on slide NHML010665616 as the neotype of A. annulatus Tendeiro 1965a . Thus, Alcedoecus anularis becomes an absolute senior synonym of A. annulatus .