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
Olivinirmus semiannulatus
species-group
*
Olivinirmus semiannulatus
(
Piaget, 1883: 156
)
n. comb.
[in
Nirmus
]
Brueelia elegans
Ansari, 1957c
: 122
[4]
[1]
There are two species called
Brueelia affinis
in the checklist of
Price
et al
. (2003)
.
Nirmus affinis
Nitzsch
[in
Giebel], 1874
was described from
Garrulus glandarius
(
Linnaeus, 1758
)
, but this name was preoccupied by
Nirmus affinis
Children, 1836
[=
Lagopoecus affinis
], from
Lagopus lagopus
(
Linnaeus, 1758
). In addition
,
Br. affinis
(Nitzsch [in Giebel]) is an unnecessary new name for
Nirmus glandarii
Denny, 1842
, and therefore here regarded as a junior synonym of this name following
Hopkins & Clay (1952: 53)
.
Brueelia nitzschi affinis
Carriker, 1963
was described from
Cyanocorax affinis affinis
Pelzeln, 1856
and is here considered a valid species, following
Price
et al.
(2003)
. However,
Carriker (1963)
and subsequent authors seem to have overlooked that
Hopkins & Clay (1952: 53)
placed
Nirmus affinis
Nitzsch
[in Giebel] in
Brueelia
, thus making
Br. affinis
Carriker
a junior homonym. The fact that
Br. affinis
(Nitzsch [in Giebel]) is a junior synonym does not make it unavailable [see Article 10.6 of the ICZN (International Commission on
Zoological Nomenclature, 1999
)], hence the name
Br. affinis
Carriker, 1963
is preoccupied by
Br. affinis
(Nitzsch [in
Giebel], 1874
), although this species was first a primary homonym of
N
.
affinis
Children
, and then a junior synonym of
B
.
glandarii
(Denny)
. We propose the name
Olivinirmus paraffinis
nomen novum
to replace
Br
.
affinis
Carriker, 1963
from
Cyanocorax affinis affinis
.
[2]
Carriker (1963: 305)
stated that the species here placed in the
Ol
.
morionus
species-group are “very homogeneous and great care must be taken in evaluating their systematic status”. This cannot be emphasized enough.
Only
Ol
.
clayae
and
Ol
.
violaceus
are markedly different from
Ol
.
nitzschi
, and determination of other species must be approached with caution, a process made difficult by the vagueness of many of the original descriptions. It is possible that these lice all belong to the same euryxenous species, and ultimately many of these species may be synonymized. The material available to us is not sufficient to properly evaluate species limits in the group at this time.
[3]
The type host of this species was given by
Carriker (1963)
as “
Cyanocorax cyana
(Linné)
”, while
Price
et al
. (2003)
listed the type host as
Cyanopica cyana
(Pallas, 1776)
. There is no such species as “
Cyanocorax cyana
(Linné)
”, but there is a
Cyanocorax cayanus
(Linnaeus, 1766)
, which is widely distributed in Venezuela (
Madge & Burn 1999
), where the holotype was collected. In contrast,
Cyanopica cyana
is restricted to the Old World. The host name given by
Carriker (1963)
is most likely a misspelling, which lead to an erroneous interpretation of the host by
Price
et al.
(2003)
. Therefore, we regard
Cyanocorax cayanus
as the type host of
Ol
.
Cyaneus
.
[4]
We tentatively accept this synonymy, following
Price
et al
. (2003)
, but note that the issue is very complicated, and should be addressed more thoroughly in future work on this genus.