Four new species of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) from African hosts, with a redescription of Nirmus bicurvatus Piaget, 1880 Author Gustafsson, Daniel R. Author Zou, Fasheng Author Oslejskova, Lucie Author Najer, Tomas Author Sychra, Oldřich text European Journal of Taxonomy 2019 2019-03-19 507 1 48 journal article 27815 10.5852/ejt.2019.507 ebc93baf-41f9-4add-951a-442466aa5a24 2612931 39A9499C-7551-4821-9C1D-4FA3BA0AD533 Genus Brueelia Kéler, 1936 Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818 : 288 partim. Nirmus Nitzsch, 1818 : 291 partim. Degeeriella Neumann, 1906 : 60 partim. Brueelia Kéler, 1936 : 257 . Painjunirmus Ansari, 1947 : 285 . Allobrueelia Eichler, 1951 : 36 partim. Nigronirmus Złotorzycka, 1964 : 248 . Spironirmus Złotorzycka, 1964 : 261 . Serinirmus Soler Cruz et al. , 1987 : 244 . Type species Brueelia rossittensis Kéler, 1936 : 257 (= Nirmus brachythorax Giebel, 1874 : 134 ) by original designation. Remarks Clay (1954) discussed the use of the post-spiracular sensillum in determining homology in the abdominal chaetotaxy of Ischnocera. She stated that in Brueelia , these sensilla are known from segments III–VII, whereas in all other groups of ischnoceran lice, they are never found posterior to segment V. Gustafsson & Bush (2017) included these sensilla in their illustrations, but neglected to discuss their importance in the text. Based on our investigation of several hundred species of lice in the Brueelia complex, it seems that these sensilla occur on segments II–III only in the following genera: Brueelia , Teinomordeus Gustafsson & Bush, 2017 , Acronirmus Eichler, 1953 and Sychraella Gustafsson & Bush, 2017 . In all other genera of the Brueelia complex, these sensilla only occur on segments IV–V. However, they are typically very hard to see, especially in species with reduced tergopleurites. Gustafsson & Bush (2017) also neglected to explicitly state that it is the position of post-spiracular setae in relationship to this sensillum that determines whether they are psps or aps . Any setae positioned laterally to the sensillum are aps , whereas any setae situated immediately median to this sensillum are psps . Note that aps and psps on the first abdominal segment bearing post-spiracular setae (often segment V or VI in Brueelia ) may be similar in length. Moreover, in some species of, e.g., Olivinirmus Złotorzycka, 1964 there may be more than one psps per side on some segments. To our knowledge, no species in the Brueelia complex has more than one aps per side on any segment. Several of the species here belong to a group of pied Brueelia species found mainly on African hosts in the families Ploceidae , Estrildidae and Paridae . The only species of this group known from hosts outside Africa is Brueelia plocea ( Lakshminarayana, 1968 ) , from India . We have seen many additional species in this group, all from African hosts; however, suitable hosts in the same genera are found in South Asia. We here refer to this group as the “African pied Brueelia ” group, to distinguish it from the New World ornatissima group, which have similar pigmentation patterns. This group comprises the following species: Brueelia plocea ( Lakshminarayana, 1968 ) ; B. queleae Sychra & Barlev in Sychra et al ., 2010a ; B. cantans Sychra in Sychra et al. , 2010b ; B. aguilarae Gustafsson & Bush, 2017 ; B. mpumalangensis Gustafsson et al ., 2018 ; B. semiscalaris sp. nov. ; B. terspichore sp. nov. ; B. sima sp. nov. The main characteristic of this group is the striking pigmentation pattern. This varies slightly between species, but typically includes having dark pigmentation on the anterior and posterior margins of sternites III–VI, the female tergopleurite IX +X, along the lateral margins of the abdomen, around the distal section of femora I–III and on the subgenital plates. The dark areas are generally at least dark brown, but may appear black in some species; both sternal and subgenital plates typically have distinct translucent fenestrae in both sexes. In the phylogeny of Bush et al . (2016) , members of this group (e.g., Brueelia queleae and Brueelia sp. (= B. mpumalangensis ) ex Melaniparus niger ) were placed in different parts of the tree, suggesting that they do not form a natural group; however, these placements received no statistical support. Apart from pigmentation patterns, the morphological characters of this group are also very diverse, suggesting that the division of this group in the phylogeny of Bush et al. (2016) may be correct. Nevertheless, for the purposes of identification and keying, we consider the ʻAfrican pied Brueelia ʼ group a useful grouping to help sort out the vast diversity of species of Brueelia on African hosts. As more species of Brueelia from African hosts become known, the relationships of the species in this informal group may have to be revised, and the group may be found to be artificial. We provide a key to the described species in this group below. Key to the ‘African pied Brueelia ’ Note that the dorsal abdominal setae in the original illustration of Brueelia plocea have been translocated to the ventral side ( Lakshminarayana 1968 ). No dorsal setae are given in the original description (ibid.: table II), but multiple setae are illustrated on some segments; we interpret all setae on these segments except the sts as dorsal setae. The female of B. plocea is undescribed. 1. Male ....................................................................................................................................................2 – Female................................................................................................................................................9 2. Accessory post-spiracular setae present on tergopleurite V ( Fig. 9 )..............................................3 – Accessory post-spiracular setae absent on tergopleurite V ( Fig. 23 ).............................................6 3. Tergal posterior setae present on tergopleurites V–VI....................................................................4 – Tergal posterior setae absent on tergopleurites V–VI ( Fig. 9 )........................................................5 4. Frons rounded; aps present on tergopleurite IV .................................................................................. .................................................................. Brueelia queleae Sychra & Barlev in Sychra et al ., 2010a – Frons flattened; aps absent on tergopleurite IV ...... Brueelia cantans Sychra in Sychra et al ., 2010b 5. Tergal posterior setae present on tergopleurite VII ( Fig. 9 ); dark pigmentation of subgenital plate limited to anterior margin ( Figs 9 , 40 ) .................................... Brueelia semiscalaris sp. nov. – Tergal posterior setae absent on tergopleurite VII; dark pigmentation of subgenital plate extensive along lateral margins, reaching distal end of subgenital plate ......................................... .................................................................................... Brueelia aguilarae Gustafsson & Bush, 2017 6. Preantennal head narrowly rounded ............................... Brueelia plocea ( Lakshminarayana, 1968 ) – Preantennal head broad, frons either rounded or flattened ( Fig. 25 ).............................................7 7. Tergal posterior setae present on tergopleurite VI ( Fig. 23 ) (absent in single examined specimen from E. p. delamerei ); 2 ps on each side of abdominal segment IV ( Fig. 23 ) .................................. .............................................................................................................. Brueelia terpsichore sp. nov. – Tergal posterior setae absent on tergopleurite VI ( Fig. 30 ); 1 ps on each side of abdominal segment IV ( Fig. 30 )..........................................................................................................................8 8. Preantennal area roughly trapezoidal, with flattened frons ( Fig. 32 ); tps present on tergopleurite VII ( Fig. 30 ) ...................................................................................................... Brueelia sima sp. nov. – Preantennal area roughly semioval, with rounded frons; tps absent on tergopleurite VII ............... ........................................................................... Brueelia mpumalangensis Gustafsson et al ., 2018 9. Frons rounded.................................................................................................................................10 – Frons flattened ( Fig. 31 )..................................................................................................................11 10. Subgenital plate largely translucent, with lateral areas of dark pigmentation clearly separated from anterior band of dark pigmentation ....... Brueelia queleae Sychra & Barlev in Sychra et al ., 2010a – Subgenital plate largely dark, with lateral and anterior sections of dark pigmentation fused ......... ........................................................................... Brueelia mpumalangensis Gustafsson et al ., 2018 11. Pleural setae present on abdominal segment IV ( Fig. 10 )............................................................12 – Pleural setae absent on abdominal segment IV ( Fig. 31 ) ............................. Brueelia sima sp. nov. 12. Subgenital plate with largely dark pigmentation apart from a central more or less T-shaped translucent fenestra (sections of this fenestra may be interrupted as in Fig. 29 ).....................13 – Subgenital plate largely translucent, but with central arched section of dark pigmentation connected to anterior band of dark pigmentation as in Figs 15 , 39 ............ Brueelia semiscalaris sp. nov. 13. Vulval margin with distinct median point ............... Brueelia aguilarae Gustafsson & Bush, 2017 – Vulval margin without distinct median point ( Fig. 29 )..................................................................14 14. Subgenital plate almost entirely dark, with translucent areas small and isolated from each other ( Figs 29 , 41 ) ........................................................................................... Brueelia terpsichore sp. nov. – Subgenital plate with clear central T-shaped translucent fenestrum ................................................ .............................................................................. Brueelia cantans Sychra in Sychra et al. , 2010b