Brueelia phasmasoma Gustafsson & Bush, 2017

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 : 48-51

Brueelia phasmasoma Gustafsson & Bush , new species

( Figs 56–62 )

Type host. Coereba flaveola luteola (Cabanis, 1850) — bananaquit.

Type locality. Cumuto, Sangre Grande, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago.

Diagnosis. Brueelia phasmasoma n. sp. is immediately separated from all other species here placed in Brueelia s. str. by the structure of the preantennal area, which is the same as that of Acronirmus ( Fig. 85 ). However, as2 and pos are absent in Acronirmus ( Fig. 58 ), but present in Br. phasmasoma ( Fig. 58 ). In Acronirmus spp. ads is posterior to avs3, whereas in Br. phasmasoma , as in all Brueelia s. str., ads is anterior to avs3. In addition, the abdominal chaetotaxy of Acronirmus differ from that of Br. phasmasoma (cf. Br. phasmasoma in Table 3 with Acronirmus in Table 2, and Figs 56–57 with Figs 83–84 ).

Description. Both sexes. Head shape, structure, and chaetotaxy as in Fig. 58 . Marginal carina interrupted laterally and medianly, premarginal carina absent. Dorsal preantennal suture arises from hyaline margin and lateral interruption of marginal carina, and is transversally continuous posterior to small, rounded pentagonal dorsal anterior plate. Ventral anterior plate small. Short vsms2 on lateral margins of clypeo-labral suture. Preantennal nodi small, blunt, do not reach mds. Coni slender, reaching to distal margin of scape. Pre- and post-ocular nodi small. Gular plate spade-shaped. Head largely translucent except dark pigmentation on post-marginal carina, preantennal nodi, margins of antennal socket, a dorsal band across antennal socket, flagellomeres II–III, pre- and post-ocular nodi, marginal temporal carina except at occiput, and anterior half of gular plate. Thoracic and abdominal segments as in genus description and Figs 56–57 ; 5 mms on each side, alternating between short and long setae. Proepimera broad, median ends curled around coxae II. Median ends of metepisterna broad, blunt. Body largely translucent, but dark pigmentation on lateral margins of pro- and pterothorax, proepimera, metepisterna, small nodi on all legs, and pleurites.

Male. Abdominal chaetotaxy as in Table 3 and Fig. 56 ; tps on tergopleurites VII–VIII. Subgenital plate trapezoidal ( Fig. 56 ). Genitalia ( Fig. 59 ) typical for genus. Anterior end of basal apodeme cannot be seen in the material examined. Proximal mesosome narrowly rounded. Gonopore ( Fig. 60 ) widely open distally. Parameral blades ( Fig. 61 ) slightly elongated distally; pst1 sensillus, submarginal near distal tip; pst2 seta, lateral near distal tip. Measurements ex Coereba flaveola luteola (n = 1): TL = 1.30; HL = 0.32, HW = 0.28; PRW = 0.17; PTW = 0.25; AW = 0.36.

Female. Abdominal chaetotaxy as in Table 3 and Fig. 57 . Subgenital plate rounded triangular ( Fig. 62 ), flaring into cross-piece at vulval margin. Vulval margin ( Fig. 62 ) gently rounded, with 3–5 slender vms on each side, and 5–7 short, thorn-like vss on each side; 3–4 slender vos on each side anterior to cross-piece, and 1 slender vos on each side just anterior to vss. Measurements ex Coereba flaveola luteola (n = 7): TL = 1.43–1.60; HL = 0.33–0.35; HW = 0.28–0.32; PRW = 0.17–0.19; PTW = 0.26–0.29; AW = 0.38–0.45.

Etymology. The species epithet is formed by Latin “ phasma ” for “ghost” and Greek “ soma ” for “body”, referring to the almost entirely translucent body of this species.

Type material. Ex Coereba flaveola luteola : Holotype ♂, Cumuto, Sangre Grande, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, 10 May 1960, TRVL-4363, Brit. Mus. 1974-636 ( NHML). Paratypes: 2♀, same data as holotype ( NHML); 2♀, Nariva Swamp, Sangre Grande / Rio Claro Mayaro, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, 30 Sep. 1960, TRVL-4978, Brit. Mus. 1974-636 ( NHML); 3♀, Vega de Oropouche, Sangre Grande, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, 24 Nov. 1959, TRVL-3675, Brit. Mus. 1974-636 ( NHML); 2♀, Vega de Oropouche, Sangre Grande, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, 14 Apr. 1959, TRVL-2313, Brit. Mus.1974-636 ( NHML).

Remarks. Brueelia phasmasoma was placed deep inside Brueelia s. str. in the phylogeny of Bush et al. (2016). However, none of the species closely related to Br. phasmasoma have similar modifications of the preantennal area. Specimens from Manacus manacus trinitatis (Hartert, 1912) and Volatinia jacarina (Linnaeus, 1766) , both from Trinidad, have similar modifications of the preantennal area but, since only single females from each host were available to us, we cannot properly assess if these females belong to Br. phasmasoma .

Williams (1982a) previously reported Brueelia sp. from Coereba flaveola sanctothomae (Sundevall, 1870) but, as she gave no details about its morphology, we cannot be certain if it is the same species as Br. phasmasoma .

Figures

FIGURES 56 – 57. Brueelia phasmasoma n. sp. ex Coereba flaveola luteola: 56, male habitus, dorsal and ventral views. 57, female habitus, dorsal and ventral views.

FIGURES 58 – 62. Brueelia phasmasoma n. sp. ex Coereba flaveola luteola: 58, male head, dorsal and ventral views. 59, male genitalia, dorsal view. 60, male mesosome, ventral view. 61, male paramere, dorsal view. 62, female subgenital plate and vulval margin, ventral view.

FIGURES 85 – 89. Acronirmus gracilis (Burmeister, 1838) ex Delichon urbicum urbicum: 85, male head, dorsal and ventral views. 86, male genitalia, dorsal view. 87, male mesosome, ventral view. 88, male paramere, dorsal view. 89, female subgenital plate and vulval margin, ventral view. Abbreviations: POMC, postmarginal carina; PRMC, premarginal carina.

FIGURES 83 – 84. Acronirmus gracilis (Burmeister, 1838) ex Delichon urbicum urbicum: 83, male habitus, dorsal and ventral views. 84, female habitus, dorsal and ventral views.