Melibrueelia Valim & Palma, 2015

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 : 215

Melibrueelia Valim & Palma, 2015

Melibrueelia Valim & Palma, 2015: 483 .

Type species. Melibrueelia novaeseelandiae Valim & Palma, 2015: 484 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Valim & Palma (2015) compared this genus with Brueelia s. str., “ Brueelia s. lat. ” (= Priceiella n. subgen.), Corvonirmus , and Turdinirmus . We refer to their description for details on how to separate Melibrueelia from these genera. For a comparison with Nemuus n. gen., see the diagnosis for this genus above.

Description. Both sexes. Head pentagonal, wider in male than in female ( Valim & Palma 2015: fig. 2). Marginal caina interrupted laterally and submedianly, no displaced section at osculum. Frons hyaline. Dorsal preantennal suture continuous with hyaline margin, reaching ads and dsms, and completely separating dorsal anterior plate from main head plate. Ventral carina not continuous with marginal carina. Ventral anterior plate present, crescent-shaped. Coni small, slender. Antennae sexually dimorphic, with male scapes more than twice as long and twice as wide as female scapes, and more distal segments modified as in Valim & Palma (2015: fig. 2 A). Head setae as in Valim & Palma (2015: fig. 2); as3 absent; pns present, sensilliform; pos on marginal temporal carina. Temporal carinae not visible; mts 3 only macrosetae. Gular plate broadly triangular.

Prothorax rectangular ( Valim & Palma 2015: fig. 1); ppss on postero-lateral corners. Proepimera oblique, moderate, curled around coxae II. Pterothorax pentagonal: lateral margins highly divergent, posterior margin convergent to slight median rounded point; mms moderately (in males) or widely (in females) separated medianly. Meso- and metathorax not fused, each with 1 seta on postero-lateral corner on each side. Let chaetotaxy as in Fig. 25 , except fI-p2 absent; fI-p3 ventral, submarginal, thorn-like.

Abdomen rounded in male, more oblong in female ( Valim & Palma 2015: fig. 1). Abdominal chaetotaxy as in Table 2. Tergopleurites II–XI in male and II–VIII in female narrowly divided medianly; tergopleurites roughly triangular in male but roughly rectangular in female. Tergopleurites IX+X and XI fused in female. Sternal plates rectangular, broad, but not approaching lateral margins of abdomen; sternal plates very slender in male. Pleural incrassations slender. Ventral section of tergopleurites very narrow. Re-entrant heads slight, blunt. Male subgenital plate roughly trapezoidal, with anterior margin rounded, posterior end reaching terminal end of abdomen and there often widening slightly. Female subgenital plate rounded triangular, reaching vulval margin and there flaring into broad cross-pieces ( Valim & Palma 2015: fig. 1B); plate with conspicuous reticulation. Vulval margin gently rounded, but median section concave; lateral to concave section vulval margin is thickened. Slender vms and thornlike vss; vos follow lateral margins of subgenital plate, with distal vos median to vss.

Basal apodeme ( Valim & Palma 2015: fig. 1C) rounded trapezoidal, anterior end slightly wider than posterior end. Proximal mesosome slender, widening in proximal end. Mesosomal lobes slender, fused and extended somewhat distally. Ventral surface with large rugose area surrounding ventrally located gonopore; 3 ames microsetae on each side antero-lateral to gonopore; 2 pmes microsetae on each side, on lateral margins posterolateral to gonopore (not illustrated by Valim & Palma 2015). Parameral heads folded medianly, rectangular. Parameral blades connected to parameral heads by slender neck, bulging in mid-section, and tapering distally; pst1–2 sensilla, central, near distal end of parameres.

Host distribution. Only known from New Zealand honeyeaters ( Meliphagidae ).

Geographical range. New Zealand.

Remarks. We do not include illustrations or a description of Melibrueelia novaeseelandiae —the type and only species of the genus—because it was recently described and well illustrated by Valim & Palma (2015). No representative of Melibrueelia was included in the phylogeny of Bush et al. (2016).

Included species

* Melibrueelia novaeseelandiae Valim & Palma, 2015: 484

Figures

FIGURES 25. Dorso-ventral views of coxae I – III, trochanters I – III, and femora I – III, showing terminology of the leg setae used here. Other parts of the thorax removed for clarity. Setae situated marginally are illustrated and named on both dorsal (lefthand) and ventral (right-hand) sides. Terminology for individual seta as used in the text obtained by combining the leg segment (larger font) and the setal name (smaller font). Abbreviations: a 1 – 5, anterior setae 1 – 5; cI – III, coxae I – III; d 1 – 3, dorsal setae 1 – 3; dm 1 – 4, distal marginal setae 1 – 4; fI – III, femur I – III; p 1 – 3, posterior setae 1 – 3; s 1 – 6, sensilla 1 – 6; tI – III, trochanter I – III; v 1 – 4, ventral setae 1 – 4.