Brueelia clara Gustafsson & Bush

Gustafsson, Daniel R. & Bush, Sarah E., 2015, Four new species of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) from African songbirds (Passeriformes: Sturnidae and Laniidae), Zootaxa 4013 (4), pp. 503-518 : 505-508

Brueelia clara Gustafsson & Bush , new species

( Figs 1–2 , 9 , 13 , 17 ; Table 1)

Type host: Lamprotornis australis (A. Smith, 1836) (Sturnidae) —Burchell’s glossy-starling. Type locality. Namibia.

Diagnosis. Brueelia clara is most similar to B. rigbyi , with which it shares the following characters: sternal and subgenital plates of both sexes with pale pigmentation; abdominal segment III of both sexes without ps; male parameres not constricted; male tergite V without psps; lf and mf of male mesosome reaching equally far distally. However, B. clara differs from B. rigbyi in the following characters: preantennal area with clearly convex lateral margins in B. rigbyi ( Fig. 18 ) but straight in B. clara ( Fig. 17 ); female abdominal segment IV–VII with 2 ps each on each side in B. clara ( Fig. 2 ) but with 1 ps on each side in B. rigbyi (fig. 4); mf broad in B. clara ( Fig. 9 ) but narrow in B. rigbyi ( Fig. 10 ); anterior end of basal plate flatly rectangular in B. rigbyi but rounded in B. clara ; vulval margin sharply convergent in B. clara ( Fig. 13 ) but rounded in B. rigby ( Fig. 14 ); connection between female subgenital plate and cross-piece slender in B. clara but broader in B. rigbyi .

Description. Head bluntly cone-shaped ( Fig. 17 ). Frons flat to slightly rounded. Lateral margins of preantennal area straight, converging anteriorly. Marginal carina slender. Head chaetotaxy as in Fig. 17 . Gular plate triangular, small. Flagellomeres I–II with darker pigmentation than the rest of antenna. Overall body pigmentation pale, moderate pigmentation restricted to pre- and postocular nodi, parts of marginal temporal carina, mandibles, posterior area of gular plate, proepimera, metepisterna, and pleurites. Measurements as in Table 1.

Table 1. Range of measurements for species of the clara species group.

Abbreviations: TL = total length; HL = head length; HW = head width; PRW = prothorax width; PTW = pterothorax width; AW = abdomen width; BPW = basal plate width; MEW = mesosome width; MEL = mesosome length; GW = gonopore width; PAL = paramere length; SW = width of connection between female subgenital plate and cross-piece.

Male. Thorax and abdomen as in Fig. 1 ; psps absent on tergite V; segment III without ps; segment IV with 1 ps; segment XI with 3 setae. Male genitalia as in Fig. 9 . Basal plate rounded anteriorly, slightly narrower in proximal end than in distal end. Distal margin of mesosome with strongly sinuous thickening; lf and mf with narrow folds reaching the same level distally. Parameres roughly triangular, lateral margins more or less straight.

Female. Thorax and abdomen as in Fig. 2 ; segments IV–VII with two ps each. Cross-piece of subgenital plate with narrow connection to main plate as in Fig. 13 . Vulval margin converges to median point, with 4–6 slender vms on each side, and 3–5 thorn-like vss on each side; 3–5 slender vos on each side, 1 distal vos median to vss on each side.

Comments. We examined material of Brueelia from other species of the same genus as the type host of B. clara , i.e. Lamprotornis chalybaeus cyaniventris (Blyth, 1855) , L. purpureus purpureus (Statius Müller, 1776) , L. purpureoptera purpureoptera Rüppell, 1845 , and L. superbus Rüppell, 1845 . None of this material belongs to the clara species group.

Material examined. Types: Holotype ♂, Namibia (as “S.W. Africa”), May 1949, R. Meinertzhagen, 19253-4, marked with black dot on slide ( NHML). Paratypes: 8♂, 9♀, same data as holotype ( NHML).

Etymology. The species epithet is from Latin “ clarus ” = “clear”, referring to the almost entirely transparent abdomen of this species.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. Brueelia clara n. sp. ex Lamprotornis australis. 1, male habitus, dorsal and ventral views. 2, female habitus, dorsal and ventral views. Abbreviations: aps = accessory post-spiracular seta; ps = pleural seta; psps post-spiracular principal seta; ss = sutural seta; sts = sternal seta; tps = tergal posteror seta.

FIGURES 9 – 12. Male genitalia, dorsal views. 9, Brueelia clara n. sp. 10, Brueelia rigbyi n. sp. 11, Brueelia tkachi n. sp. 12, Brueelia coryliventer n. sp. Abbreviations: lf = lateral fold; mf = median fold.

FIGURES 13 – 16. Female subgenital plates and vulval margins, ventral views. 13, Brueelia clara n. sp. 14, Brueelia rigbyi n. sp. 15, Brueelia tkachi n. sp. 16, Brueelia coryliventer n. sp. Abbreviations: vms = vulval marginal setae; vos = vulval oblique setae; vss = vulval submarginal setae.

FIGURES 17 – 18. Male heads, dorsal and ventral views. 17, Brueelia clara n. sp. 18, Brueelia rigbyi n. sp. Abbreviations: ads = anterior dorsal seta; as 1 – 2 = anterior setae 1 – 2; avs 1 – 3 = anterior ventral setae 1 – 3; dsms = dorsal submarginal seta; mds = mandibular seta; mts 1 – 5 = marginal temporal setae 1 – 5; os = ocular seta; pcs = preconal seta; pas = preantennal seta; pos = preocular seta; pts = post-temporal seta; s 1 – 4 sensilla 1 – 4; vsms 1 – 2 = ventral submarginal setae 1 – 2.