Nirmus nudus Giebel, 1874

Bush, Sarah E., 2017, Morphological revision of the hyperdiverse Brueelia - complex (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) with new taxa, checklists and generic key, Zootaxa 4313 (1), pp. 1-443 : 319

Nirmus nudus Giebel, 1874

Type host. Seleucidis melanoleuca (Daudin, 1800) — twelve-wired bird-of-paradise.

Remarks. Nirmus nudus Giebel, 1879 was described as being “without any particularly striking peculiarities” ( Giebel 1879: 475), distinguishable from the most similar species only by its short and overall very sparse hairs. Unfortunately, the species considered “most similar” was not identified by Giebel. Also, the type /s is/are lost making it impossible to know what Nirmus nudus was, or whether it is synonymous with Guimaraesiella setifer ( Piaget, 1880) from another bird-of-paradise species.

Almost all of the lice of the Brueelia-complex examined by us from birds-of-paradise belong to species of Guimaraesiella. In the absence of an actual specimen we cannot establish whether Giebel’s (1879) observation that the setae are very sparse is the actual condition of this louse, or a result of poor preservation, as is so often the case in oldslide- mounted lice. With only an extremely vague description, no illustration, and no remaining specimens, this species must be considered incertae sedis.