The ischnoceran chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) of bulbuls (Aves: Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae), with descriptions of 18 new species

Abstract

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.

Coevolutionary analysis of the Philopteroides Mey, 2004 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) parasitizing bulbuls (Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae)

“…The morphospecies Philopteroides cucphuongensis occurs on three different bulbul species from Borneo (Brachypodius melanoleucos), Vietnam (Pycnonotus finlaysoni), and South China (Pycnonotus xanthorrhous). This diversity of hosts for many species of bulbul Philopteroides was previously suggested by, e.g., Gustafsson et al (2022a) on a morphological basis, although that study underestimated the diversity of Philopteroides lice on bulbuls somewhat. Our genetic data suggests that several undescribed species of Philopteroides may occur on bulbuls, including a species largely confined to hosts in the genus Alophoixus, specimens of which were considered conspecific with Philopteroides flavala by Gustafsson et al (2022a).…”

“…All Philopteroides specimens from bulbuls were keyed to species using the key of Gustafsson et al (2022a), except specimens derived from Najer et al (2021). The identity of Philopteroides kayanobori (Uchida, 1948) could not be confirmed, as the original description of this species (Uchida, 1948) includes characters that are not found in any species of Philopteroides (see Gustafsson et al, 2022a).…”

“…All Philopteroides specimens from bulbuls were keyed to species using the key of Gustafsson et al (2022a), except specimens derived from Najer et al (2021). The identity of Philopteroides kayanobori (Uchida, 1948) could not be confirmed, as the original description of this species (Uchida, 1948) includes characters that are not found in any species of Philopteroides (see Gustafsson et al, 2022a). As specimens from Hemixos flavala, Hemixos castanonotus and the two species of Alophoixus are morphologically very similar, they could not be separated using this key, indicating that these may represent cryptic species.…”

“…Vertical bars to the right correspond to clades discussed in the text. Species-level identifications follow the key of Gustafsson et al (2022a); note that Philopterus kayanobori cannot be adequately identified, as original description show characters that are not found in any Philopteroides, and specimens from Sx. semitorques are identified tentatively.…”

“…Similarly, Philopteroides is widely distributed throughout the Old World tropics, occurring on a wide range of host families (Valim and Palma, 2013;Gustafsson et al, 2022b: table 8). Recent genetic data indicate that the genus may not be monophyletic (Kolencik et al, 2022), with species parasitizing bulbuls forming a morphologically homogeneous and closely related group separate from the species occurring on members of other host families (Mey, 2004;Valim and Palma, 2013;Najer et al, 2016Najer et al, , 2021Gustafsson et al, 2022a). The morphological homogeneity of these lice may suggest that hostswitches occur regularly between different bulbul species.…”