Halipeurus heraldicus Timmermann, 1960

Palma, Ricardo L., 2011, New taxa, new synonymies and new host records in the louse genus Halipeurus (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) parasitic on petrels (Aves: Procellariiformes), Zootaxa 3017, pp. 1-45 : 31

Halipeurus heraldicus Timmermann, 1960

Halipeurus heraldicus Timmermann, 1960: 331 , fig. 14, 15b, 16a. Type host: Pterodroma arminjoniana heraldica (Salvin, 1888) . Holotype 3 in NHML.

Halipeurus (Halipeurus) postmarquesanus Edwards, 1961: 153 , figs 3U–7U. Type host: Pterodroma arminjoniana heraldica . Holotype 3 in AMNH.

Halipeurus (Halipeurus) heraldicus ; Timmermann, 1965: 152, fig. 93.

Halipeurus heraldicus ; Amerson & Emerson, 1971: 5.

Halipeurus heraldicus ; Vinson, 1976: 14.

Halipeurus (Halipeurus) heraldicus ; Price et al., 2003: 187.

MATERIAL EXAMINED

Types

Ex Pterodroma arminjoniana heraldica : 13, 1Ƥ paratypes of Halipeurus heraldicus , Marquesas Is, no date ( NHML, Meinertzhagen Collection 12600a). Holotype 3, allotype Ƥ and 1 3 paratype of Halipeurus postmarquesanus , South Pacific Ocean, no date, RLE 90 ( AMNH); 1 Ƥ paratype of Halipeurus postmarquesanus, Chesterfield Group, South Pacific Ocean, no date ( NHML, Thompson Collection).

Non-types

Ex Pterodroma arminjoniana heraldica : 43, South Pacific Ocean, Feb. 1922, R.H. Beck ( MONZ); 153, 11Ƥ, Henderson I., Pitcairn Group, South Pacific Ocean, 26 Jul.–21 Aug. 1991, J.N. Jolly ( MONZ); 23, 2Ƥ, Raivavae I., Austral Group (Tubuai Is) French Polynesia, Jul. 1992, G. McCormack ( MONZ).

Ex Pterodroma arminjoniana arminjoniana (Giglioli & Salvadori, 1869) : 143, 9Ƥ, Round I., Mauritius, Indian Ocean, 18 Jun. 1987, D. Merton ( MONZ); 63, 5Ƥ, (ex 10 birds) Round I., Mauritius, Indian Ocean, 14–28 Sep. 2005, R. Brown ( MONZ).

Ex Pterodroma neglecta neglecta : 33, 2Ƥ, (ex 5 birds) Round I., Mauritius, Indian Ocean, 11 Sep.–5 Oct. 2005, R. Brown ( MONZ). New host record.

Ex Pterodroma alba (Gmelin, 1789) : 23, 1Ƥ, Christmas Atoll, Pacific Ocean, Feb. 1921, R.H. Beck ( AMNH); 2Ƥ, Ducie I., Pitcairn Group, South Pacific Ocean, Mar. 1922, R.H. Beck, NM 309 ( MONZ); 13, 4Ƥ, Oeno I., Pitcairn Group, South Pacific Ocean, 17 Apr. 1922, R.H. Beck, NM 19159 ( MONZ); 1Ƥ, Phoenix I., Phoenix Is, Kiribati, Pacific Ocean, Mar. 1929, R.H. Beck ( AMNH); 2Ƥ, Canton I., Phoenix Is, Kiribati, Pacific Ocean, Mar. 1929, R.H. Beck ( AMNH); 13, Sand I., Johnston Atoll, Pacific Ocean, 18 Aug. 1964, P. Lehner, POBSP 2504 ( USNM); 23, 1Ƥ, Howland I., Pacific Ocean, 19 May 1965, POBSP 4153 ( USNM); 23, 3Ƥ, Phoenix I., Phoenix Is, Kiribati, Pacific Ocean, 27 May 1965, POBSP 4182, 4183 ( KCEM; USNM); 33, 2Ƥ, Motu Upua I., Christmas Atoll, Pacific Ocean, 29 Oct. 1965, POBSP 503249 ( MONZ); 13, 1Ƥ, Arno Atoll, Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean, no date ( AMNH).

Ex Pterodroma atrata (Mathews, 1912) : 43, 5Ƥ, Henderson I., Pitcairn Group, South Pacific Ocean, 5 Apr. 1922, R.H. Beck, NM 19160 ( MONZ); 53, 5Ƥ, Henderson I., Pitcairn Group, South Pacific Ocean, 23–24 Aug. 1991, J.N. Jolly ( MONZ). New host record.

Ex Pterodroma baraui (Jouanin, 1964) : 73, 2Ƥ, Rivière Saint-Etienne Estuary, Saint Louis, Réunion I., Indian Ocean, 15 Feb. 1993, C. Attié & V. Bretagnolle ( MONZ). New host record.

DISCUSSION: The host species Pterodroma atrata , regarded as a junior synonym of Pterodroma arminjoniana heraldica for many years, has been recognised as a different species and separated from the latter ( Brooke & Rowe 1996). Accordingly, Pt. atrata is a new host for Halipeurus heraldicus .

The first record of Halipeurus heraldicus from Pterodroma arminjoniana arminjoniana was published by Vinson (1976) for Round Island, Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. My examination of additional samples from the same locality (see above) agrees with Vinson’s identification. However, Pt. arminjoniana arminjoniana is also known to harbour Halipeurus kermadecensis on the island of Trindade, in the South Atlantic Ocean (see above). There is only one known case of two species of Halipeurus regularly parasitising one host species: that of H. procellariae and H. theresae ( Timmermann, 1969) coexisting on individuals of Pterodroma magentae (Giglioli & Salvadori, 1869) in the Chatham Islands, as reported by Palma & Imber (2000). However, the situation with Pt. arminjoniana arminjoniana is different because there are two widely separated populations involved: one on Round Island, sympatric with other two Pterodroma species— Pt. neglecta and Pt. heraldica (see Hammer et al. 2010); and another on Trindade Island, sympatric with Pt. neglecta according to Imber (2004) but disputed by Hammer et al. (2010). Many louse samples from Pt. arminjoniana arminjoniana and one from Pt. neglecta collected at Trindade Island (see above) show that only H. kermadecensis is present there, while 23 samples from Pt. arminjoniana arminjoniana and five from Pt. neglecta (see above) collected at Round Island contain H. heraldicus only. Further sampling from those islands may still show that H. heraldicus and H. kermadecensis coexist within the same host populations, but the available evidence does not support that scenario ( Brown et al. 2011, Hammer et al. 2010).