Goniodes dissimilis Denny, 1842

Goniodes dissimilis Nitzsch, 1818: 294 nomen nudum.

Goniodes (Philopedon) dissimilis (Nitzsch); Stephens 1829: 333.

Goniodes dissimilis Denny, 1842: 57 .

Goniodes dissimilis var. bankiva Piaget, 1880: 269 .

Goniodes dissimilis Nitzsch, in Denny, 1842; Harrison 1916: 76.

Oulocrepis dissimilis (Nitzsch); von Kéler 1940: 98.

Oulocrepis bankivus Piag., 1940: 236 [as possible synonym of O. dissimilis].

Goniodes bankiva Piaget, 1880; Hopkins and Clay 1952: 151 [as synonym of G. dissimilis]

Type host

Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758) – red junglefowl.

Neotype locality

England (Clay 1940, p. 65).

Remarks

Goniodes dissimilis has been reported from peafowl from Pakistan (Naz and Rizvi 2018). It was also reported from Saudi Arabia by Nasser et al. (2015), but the louse in their photos is not G. dissimilis but an unidentified species (see below). Naz and Rizvi (2018, p. 11) stated that their peafowls had not been in contact with domestic fowl, and that G. dissimilis may therefore occur naturally on peafowls in Pakistan. Close proximity of multiple species of domesticated or captive galliforms seems to have resulted in successful host switches several times, including cases where lice have subsequently spread worldwide on their novel hosts (Gustafsson and Zou 2020b). Established populations of novel lice on captive galliforms also seem to be able to persist locally (eg Fabiyi 1972, 1980, 1986, 1996; Sychra et al. 2008). In some cases, the natural host of lice occurring on captive galliforms is not even known (eg Alahmed et al. 2017).

However, as reports of G. dissimilis are limited and may be due to straggling or very locally established populations, we do not redescribe this species here. Specimens suspected to be G. dissimilis can be identified by the illustrations and descriptions of Clay (1940), von Kéler (1940), Emerson (1956) and Naz and Rizvi (2018).