Morphological revision of the hyperdiverse Brueelia - complex (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) with new taxa, checklists and generic key
Author
Bush, Sarah E.
text
Zootaxa
2017
2017-08-31
4313
1
1
443
journal article
32249
10.11646/zootaxa.4313.1.1
d8cc2cd8-8410-49aa-a75d-7a41d9f52b26
1175-5326
883161
A5Fdfba5-F992-44A8-84C2-1756C943C19B
Nirmus eustigma
Kellogg, 1896
Type host.
Calypte anna
(Lesson, 1829)
—Anna’s hummingbird.
Remarks.
In the original illustration of this species, the head is reminiscent of
Brueelia
s. str.
, but the abdominal chaetotaxy differs markedly from
Brueelia
s. str.
The
holotype
is very poorly preserved, and virtually all important characters are impossible to discern. The head shape appears most similar to that commonly found in
Motmotnirmus
, but the description states that it has only one pair of temporal macrosetae; the state of the
mts
is hard to assess in the
type
, but
mts
2
does not appear to be a macroseta on either side of the head. Thus, the
type
cannot be identified with certainty even to genus, and we cannot presently include it in any of the genera treated here. Considering that no species of the
Brueelia
-complex is known from hummingbirds, it seems likely that the
holotype
is an unidentifiable straggler or contaminant.
Boyd
et al
. (1956)
identified lice collected from
Cyanocitta cristata
(
Linnaeus, 1758
)
as
Degeeriella eustigma
, with which they synonymized with
Degeeriella picturata
(
Osborn, 1896
)
. Since no illustrations or descriptions were provided from their material, we do not accept this synonymy as we cannot ascertain whether their material was conspecific with either of these species, or with
Olivinirmus clayae
, which regularly occurs on
Cyanocitta cristata
.