Brueelia jacarinae Valim & Palma

Valim, Michel P. & Palma, Ricardo L., 2006, A new species of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) from the blue­black grassquit (Aves: Passeriformes: Emberizidae) in Brazil, Zootaxa 1153, pp. 27-32 : 28-31

Brueelia jacarinae Valim & Palma new species ( Figs. 1– 6 )

Type host. Volatinia jacarina (Linnaeus, 1766) , Blue­black grassquit.

Male. As in Fig. 1 . Head as in Fig. 3 . Prothorax and pterothorax as in Fig. 5 . Sternal plates as in Fig. 6 . Genitalia as in Fig. 7 . Chaetotaxy: prothorax with 1 short seta on each posterolateral corner; pterothorax with 7 setae (one very short, 6 very long) on each posterolateral margin. Tergal setae on each side of abdominal segments II­V: 0; VI­VII: 1; VIII: 2; IX: 4. Pleural setae on each side of segment II: 0; III: 1; IV­VII: 2; VIII: 3; IX: 1. Sternal setae on each side of segments II­VI: 1. Measurements: head width 0.26; head length 0.32–0.33; prothorax width 0.16–0.17; prothorax length 0.10; pterothorax width 0.24– 0.25; pterothorax length 0.13–0.14; abdomen width (at segment IV­V) 0.31–0.33; abdomen length 0.76–0.78; genitalia total length 0.14–0.15; parameres 0.04; basal plate 0.10– 0.11; total length 1.31–1.38.

Female. As in Fig. 2 . Head as in Fig. 4 . Prothorax and pterothorax as in Fig. 5 . Subgenital plate and ventral terminalia as in Fig. 8 . Chaetotaxy: prothorax and pterothorax as in male. Tergal setae on each side of abdominal segments II­V: 0; VI­VIII: 1; IX: 3. Pleural setae on each side of segment II: 0; III: 1; IV­VII: 2; VIII: 3; IX: 1. Sternal setae on each side of segments II­VI: 1. Measurements: head width 0.26–0.29; head length 0.32–0.36; prothorax width 0.17–0.19; prothorax length 0.11–0.13; pterothorax width 0.26–0.28; pterothorax length 0.15–0.16; abdomen width (at segment IV­V) 0.35–0.41; abdomen length 0.96–1.08; total length 1.56–1.75.

Type material: Male holotype ( Fig. 1 ), from Bairro Campos Elíseos, Mun. Duque de Caxias, Estado Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2002, Michel P. Valim. Paratypes: one male and eight females with same data as the holotype. All specimens collected from Vo latinia jacarina ( Passeriformes : Emberizidae ).

Etymology. The epithet jacarinae is an adjective in the genitive case derived from the species name of the type host..

Remarks. Several species of Brueelia parasitic on emberizid hosts are morphologically similar to Brueelia jacarinae , in particular B. delicata (Nitzsch [in Giebel], 1866), B. acuminata Cicchino, 1982 , B. sayacae Cicchino, 1982 and B. cucullata Cicchino, 1982 . However, B. jacarinae can be separated from those species by a combination of features, involving details of the male genitalia (the denticulation and shape of the endomeral complex, plus the shape and length of the parameres), the shape of the head and of the abdomen, and dimensions. Five birds were searched for lice, but only two were parasitised by B. jacarinae . The lice were found on the dorsal region of the neck, and on the sides of the bird. This is the first species of Brueelia , and of the family Philopteridae , recorded from V. jacarina . Only one other louse species had been previously described from this bird species: Ricinus volatiniae Nelson, 1972 (Amblycera: Ricinidae ) (see Price et al. 2003: 252). Volatinia jacarina is an abundant small finch of open areas with a distribution ranging from Mexico in the north, through Central America, to northern Argentina in the south ( Ridgely and Tudor, 1989: 404; Sick, 1997).

The close similarity between B. jacarinae and other species of Brueelia from Neotropical birds, as well as with the Palearctic B. delicata , would fit the conclusion reached by Johnson et al. (2002) that the phylogeny of Brueelia does not reflect host phylogeny. Notwithstanding the above, the greater morphological differences we found between B. jacarinae and Brueelia chelydensis Hopkins, 1951 , a louse recorded from several species of Darwin’s finches in the Galápagos Islands ( Price et al. 2003: 154), would not support the conclusion reached by Steadman (1982) that Volatinia Reichenbach, 1850 is the closest relative to Geospiza Gould, 1837 and other genera of Darwin’s finches (see also Baptista & Trail, 1988).

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 2. 1 Brueelia jacarinae. 1, holotype male. 2, paratype female.

FIGURE 3 – 8 Brueelia jacarinae. 3, Male head dorsal view. 4, Female head ventral view. 5, Female prothorax and pterothorax dorsal view. 6, Male thoracic sternal plates. 7, Male genitalia. 8, Female subgenital plate and ventral terminalia [some setae omitted on one side]. Scale bars for Figs 3 – 5, 8 = 0.2 mm; scale bars for Figs 6 – 7 = 0.06 mm.