The genera and species of the Brueelia - complex (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) described by Mey (2017)
Author
Gustafsson, Daniel R.
Author
Bush, Sarah E.
Author
Palma, Ricardo L.
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-06-13
4615
2
252
284
journal article
26499
10.11646/zootaxa.4615.2.2
7e02577f-b34c-4260-a14a-8c901e39d6b1
1175-5326
3244680
F719B20F-82F0-45FE-976D-9EE55DA05329
Leiothrichinirmus
himalayanus
Mey, 2017
Leiothrichinirmus
himalayanus
Mey, 2017: 169
, fig. 94, pl. XVI: fig 6, pl. XVII: fig. 1.
Resartor himalayanus
(
Mey, 2017
)
.
New combination
,
species inquirenda
.
Type
host:
Trochalopteron affine blythii
Verreaux, 1871
—black-faced laughingthrush.
Type
locality:
Washan
,
Sichuan
,
China
.
Remarks.
Mey (2017)
did not compare
Leiothrichinirmus
himalayanus
against
Brueelia impressifrons
, despite placing the
Br. impressifrons
in
Leiothrichinirmus
.
Gustafsson & Bush (2017: 105)
placed
Br. impressifrons
in
Resartor
, parasitising two different subspecies of the same host species,
Trochalopteron affine
. The illustration of the male genitalia of
L. himalayanus
by
Mey (2017: 94)
is not complete and appears slightly distorted. Other than the angle of the lateral margins of the mesosome, there are no differences between the genitalia of
L. himalayanus
and those of
Re
.
impressifrons
that cannot be ascribed to the distortion of the specimen illustrated, the lack of detail in Mey’s illustration, or within-species variation. The only other characters mentioned in the description of
L. himalayanus
refer to illustrations of
L. grammatoptiliphagus
, but it is unclear whether these two species are so similar that the same illustration of the terminalia can serve to illustrate two species, or whether this is a mistake. In our experience, the chaetotaxy of the posterior segments differ among all species of
Resartor
.
We strongly suspect that
Leiothrichinirmus
himalayanus
is a junior synonym of
Re.
impressifrons
, but the
type
material needs careful examination to confirm this hypothesis. For this reason, we consider
Re.
himalayanus
a
species inquirenda
in need of redescription.