Philopterus insulicola ( Kellogg & Kuwana, 1902 )

Palma, Ricardo L. & Peck, Stewart B., 2013, <strong> An annotated checklist of parasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from the Galápagos Islands </ strong>, Zootaxa 3627 (1), pp. 1-87 : 48

Philopterus insulicola ( Kellogg & Kuwana, 1902)

Docophorus insulicola Kellogg & Kuwana, 1902: 466 , pl. 28, fig. 6.

Philopterus insulicola ( Kellogg & Kuwana, 1902) ; Harrison 1916: 97.

Philopterus insulicola ( Kellogg & Kuwana, 1902) ; Clay in Linsley & Usinger 1966: 131.

Philopterus insulicola ( Kellogg & Kuwana, 1902) ; Price et al. 2003: 214.

Lectotype ♂ in EMEC ( Carriker 1957: 97).

Type host: Certhidea olivacea olivacea Gould, 1837 .

Galápagos hosts: Pyrocephalus rubinus nanus Gould, 1839 ; Certhidea olivacea olivacea Gould, 1837 .

Galápagos localities: Isla Pinta; Isla Isabela.

Galápagos references: Kellogg & Kuwana (1902); Kellogg (1908: 15); Thompson (1939: 18); Carriker (1957: 97); Sari et al. (2012: 3).

Other significant references: Hopkins & Clay (1952: 284); Price et al. (2003: 214).

Material examined: 6 males, 8 females and 6 nymphs (3 samples, EMEC, MONZ) .

Remarks: From the Kellogg Collection, we examined the lectotype male and five paralectotypes of Docophorus insulicola . Kellogg & Kuwana (1902) reported three passerine hosts for this louse species, including the two hosts given above and Geospiza fuliginosa . Carriker (1957: 97) designated the male lectotype from Certhidea olivacea arguing that specimens from Pyrocephalus rubinus (as Pyrocephalus intercedens ) and Geospiza fuliginosa “must be considered as ‘stragglers’ from Certhidea , the true host”, and that additional Philopterus females from Pyrocephalus rubinus were “very different from Kellogg’s figure of insulicola ”. We agree with Carriker (1957) in that Geospiza fuliginosa is not a natural host for Philopterus insulicola . However, we disagree with Carriker’s (1957) statement that Pyrocephalus rubinus is not a natural host for Ph. insulicola because we have identified four males and four females, collected by the 1992 Galápagos Expedition from Pyrocephalus rubinus , as Philopterus insulicola . Furthermore, we are unable to confirm Certhidea olivacea as a natural host for this louse because we did not collect any louse from our examination of six birds of this species. Price et al. (2003: 214) incorrectly listed the three original passerine hosts of Philopterus insulicola as type hosts, not realising that Carriker’s (1957) designation of a lectotype had made Certhidea olivacea the only type host.

Genus Physconelloides Ewing, 1927

Physconelloides Ewing, 1927 . Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. 17: 94. Type species: Physconelloides ceratoceps Ewing, 1927 (by original designation).