Four new species of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) from African hosts, with a redescription of Nirmus bicurvatus Piaget, 1880

  • Daniel R. Gustafsson Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, 105 Xingang West Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510260
  • Fasheng Zou Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, 105 Xingang West Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510260
  • Lucie Oslejskova Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho tr. 1946/1, 612 42 Brno
  • Tomas Najer Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamycka 129, 165 00 Prague 6
  • Oldrich Sychra Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho tr. 1946/1, 612 42 Brno
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2019.507
Keywords: Phthiraptera, new species, Brueelia complex, species diversity, host specificity

Abstract

Four new species of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 are described and illustrated. All of them parasitize African endemic host species in the families Passeridae, Ploceidae, and Estrildidae (Passeriformes). They are: Brueelia pofadderensis sp. nov. ex Passer melanurus damarensis Reichenow, 1902 and P. m. vicinus Clancey, 1958; B. semiscalaris sp. nov. ex Granatina granatina (Linnaeus, 1758); B. sima sp. nov. ex Malimbus nitens (Gray, 1831); B. terpsichore sp. nov. ex Euplectes jacksoni (Sharpe, 1891) and E. progne delamerei (Shelley, 1903). In addition, Brueelia bicurvata (Piaget, 1880) is redescribed and reillustrated from non-type material. A summary of all published records of lice in the Brueelia complex from Africa since 1980 is provided. We also estimate the unknown diversity of African species of Brueelia based on an index of host specificity calculated for each host family independently. The unknown diversity is estimated to be over 1000 species of Brueelia from African hosts, compared to the < 50 species in this genus currently recorded from Africa.

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Published
2019-03-19
How to Cite
Gustafsson, D. R., Zou, F., Oslejskova, L., Najer, T., & Sychra, O. (2019). Four new species of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) from African hosts, with a redescription of Nirmus bicurvatus Piaget, 1880. European Journal of Taxonomy, (507). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2019.507
Issue
No. 507 (2019): Four new species of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) from African hosts, with a redescription of Nirmus bicurvatus Piaget, 1880
Section
Entomology

Copyright (c) 2019 Daniel R. Gustafsson, Fasheng Zou, Lucie Oslejskova, Tomas Najer, Oldrich Sychra

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