No abstract

Seven species of chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) were found on five species of bulbuls (Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae)in northern Vietnam. Three new species of the genera Brueelia and Philopteroides are described; they and their type hostsare: Brueelia flavala ex Hemixos flavala Blyth, 1845 B. cucphuongensis ex Pycnonotus finlaysoni Strickland, 1844 andPhilopteroides flavala ex Hemixos flavala Blyth, 1845. First records of chewing lice from Hemixos castanonotus Swin-hoe, 1870 and Iole propinqua (Oustalet, 1903), and a new host record for Myrsidea ochracei and Sturnidoecus sp. are also included.

The Philopterus Complex includes several lineages of lice that occur on birds. The complex includes the genera Philopterus (Nitzsch, 1818; Psocodea: Philopteridae), Philopteroides (Mey, 2004; Psocodea: Philopteridae), and many other lineages that have sometimes been regarded as separate genera. Only a few studies have investigated the phylogeny of this complex, all of which are based on morphological data. Here we evaluate the utility of nuclear and mitochondrial loci for recovering the phylogeny within this group. We obtained phylogenetic trees from 39 samples of the Philopterus Complex (Psocodea: Philopteridae), using sequences of two nuclear (hyp and TMEDE6) and one mitochondrial (COI) marker. We evaluated trees derived from these genes individually as well as from concatenated sequences. All trees show 20 clearly demarcated taxa (i.e., putative species) divided into five well-supported clades. Percent sequence divergence between putative species (~5–30%) for the COI gene tended to be much higher than those for the nuclear genes (~1–15%), as expected. In cases where species are described, the lineages identified based on molecular divergence correspond to morphologically defined species. In some cases, species that are host generalists exhibit additional underlying genetic variation and such cases need to be explored by further future taxonomic revisions of the Philopterus Complex.

A total of 239 individuals of 50 bird species were examined for chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) in southern Vietnam. Fifty-six birds of 20 species were parasitised by 15 species of lice belonging to 10 genera from two suborders, Amblycera: Menacanthus, Meromenopon, Myrsidea, and Ischnocera: Alcedoecus, Brueelia, Cuculicola, Meropoecus, Penenirmus, Philopteroides and Philopterus. Thirteen louse samples from Passeriformes were identified to genus only because they contain inadequate material. A total of 29 host-louse associations were found, of which nine are new, including: (1) two new species of the genus Brueelia, which are described and named in this paper: Brueelia binhchauensis from Megalaima lineata (Vieillot, 1816) (Piciformes: Megalaimidae), and Brueelia malacocincla from Malacocincla abbotti Blyth, 1845 (Passeriformes: Pellorneidae); (2) first records of lice from Cyornis hainanus (Ogilvie-Grant, 1900); and (3) the first record of Myrsidea claytoni Hellenthal & Price, 2003 from Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos (Gmelin, 1788) (Passeriformes: Eurylaimidae), here regarded as a case of natural host-switching. A portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene for some species of chewing lice was sequenced in order to assess their genetic divergences.

Thirteen species of chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) were found on 46 wild passerines of 10 species in Cuc PhuongNational Park in northern Vietnam. Three new species of the genera Myrsidea and Brueelia are described; they and theirtype hosts are: Myrsidea annae ex Schoeniparus rufogularis (Mandelli, 1873), Brueelia hrabali ex Macronous gularis(Horsfield, 1822) and Brueelia neodaumae ex Zoothera dauma (Latham, 1790). First records of chewing lice from Seril-ophus lunatus (Gould, 1834), Stachyris nigriceps Blyth, 1844, Niltava davidi La Touche, 1907 and Alcippe morrisonia Swinhoe, 1863, and a new host record for Menacanthus nogoma Uchida, 1926 are also included.

One species of the louse genus Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818 is redescribed and illustrated: Philopterus acrocephalus Carriker, 1949 ex Acrocephalus luscinius (Quoy & Gaimard, 1830), A. melanopogon (Temminck, 1823), A. scirpaceus (Hermann, 1804), A. schoenobaenus (Linnaeus, 1758), Iduna aedon rufescens Stegmann, 1929, I. rama (Sykes, 1832), Locustella sp. and L. ochotensis (von Middendorff, 1853). Philopterus acrocephalus represents the first species of the Philopterus-complex recorded in the family Locustellidae Bonaparte, 1854. Philopterus gustafssoni sp. nov. is described ex Regulus regulus (Linnaeus, 1758), R. regulus regulus (Linnaeus, 1758), R. regulus azoricus Seebohm, 1883, R. regulus buturlini von Loudon, 1911, R. regulus sanctaemariae Vaurie, 1954, R. regulus tristis Pleske, 1892 and R. ignicapillus (Temminck, 1820). Descriptions of both species are amended with genetic data, DNA sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I, nuclear hyp and TMEDE6; concatenated sequences are compared to the morphologically nearest species with genetic data available, Philopterus citrinellae (Schrank, 1776) and Philopterus fringillae (Scopoli, 1772). Holotype of Philopterus reguli (Denny, 1842) is pronounced to be a straggler, determination of other known material from Regulidae is changed for Philopterus gustafssoni sp. nov.

Two new species of the louse genus Philopteroides Mey, 2004 are described and illustrated from two host species of painted berrypeckers, endemic to New Guinea: Philopteroides sinancorellus n. sp. ex Oreocharis arfaki (Meyer, 1875) (tit berrypecker), and Philopteroides gigas n. sp. ex Paramythia montium De Vis, 1892 (crested berrypecker). Both louse species belong to the beckeri species-group based on their short, broad preantennal areas, and shallow median indentations of the hyaline margin. The description of these two new species brings the total number of Philopteroides species to 15. An amended key to the beckeri species-group is included.

The ischnoceran chewing lice known from bulbuls are discussed and revised, and 18 new species are described. These are: Brueelia celer sp. nov. from Pycnonotus cafer bengalensis Blyth, 1845 and Pycnonotus cafer primrosei Deignan, 1949; Brueelia colindalei sp. nov. from Hemixos castanonotus canipennis Seebohm, 1890; Brueelia doisuthepensis sp. nov. from Alophoixus ochraceus ochraceus (Moore, 1858); Brueelia galeata sp. nov. from Alophoixus pallidus henrici (Oustalet, 1896); Brueelia hermetica sp. nov. from Pycnonotus barbatus layardi Gurney, 1879; Brueelia leiae sp. nov. from Alophoixus flaveolus burmanicus (Oates, 1899); Brueelia robertrankini sp. nov. from Pycnonotus jocosus jocosus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Pycnonotus jocosus pattani Deignan, 1948; Brueelia yunnanensis sp. nov. from Ixos mcclellandii similis (Rothschild, 1921); Guimaraesiella brunneomarginata sp. nov. from Pycnonotus goiaver samarensis Rand & Rabor, 1960 and Pycnonotus goiaver personatus Hume, 1873; Guimaraesiella caligogularis sp. nov. from Pycnonotus plumosus plumosus Blyth, 1845 and Alophoixus bres tephrogenys (Jardine & Selby, 1833); Guimaraesiella cinnamomea sp. nov. from Iole propinqua propinqua (Oustalet, 1903) and Iole viridescens cinnamomeoventris Baker, 1917; Guimaraesiella ixi sp. nov. from Ixos mcclellandii peracensis (Hartert & Butler, 1898); Guimaraesiella lorica sp. nov. from Hypsipetes leucocephalus nigerrimus Gould, 1863; Guimaraesiella mayoensis sp. nov. from Hypsipetes everetti everetti (Tweeddale, 1877); Guimaraesiella phlaoalopha sp. nov. from Alophoixus pallidus henrici (Oustalet, 1896); Philopteroides holosternus sp. nov. from Pycnonotus goiavier goiavier (Scopoli, 1786); Philopteroides longiclypeatus sp. nov. from Hypsipetes everretti samarensis Rand & Rabor, 1959; Philopteroides haerixos sp. nov. from Ixos mcclellandii holtii (Swinhoe, 1861) and Alophoixus pallidus henrici (Oustalet, 1896). The following new host records are provided: Hemixos castanonotus canipennis Seebohm, 1890, for Guimaraesiella flavala (Najer & Sychra in Najer et al., 2012); Pycnonotus blanfordi conradi (Finsch in Finsch & Conrad, 1873) for Philopteroides cucphuongensis Mey, 2004. Philopterus cucphuongensis is tentatively redescribed and illustrated based on specimens from a non-type host species. The species descriptions of the following species are amended slightly, based on re-examinations of type specimens: Brueelia alophoixi Sychra in Sychra et al., 2009; Guimaraesiella cucphuongensis (Najer & Sychra in Najer et al., 2012); Guimaraesiella flavala (Najer & Sychra in Najer et al., 2012). We propose to move Philopterus hiyodori Uchida, 1949, to the genus Craspedorrhynchus Kéler, 1938. The species Sturnidoecus acutifrons (Uchida, 1949) and Penenirmus guldum (Ansari, 1955) are considered species inquirenda. An updated checklist of ischnoceran lice known from bulbuls is provided, as well as a key to all ischnoceran species known from bulbuls.