Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818

Gustafsson, Daniel R., Najer, Tomas, Zou, Fasheng & Bush, Sarah E., 2022, New species of Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818 (Ischnocera: Philopteridae), with notes on Cypseloecus Conci, 1941, European Journal of Taxonomy 790 (1), pp. 1-52 : 4-5

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5852/ejt.2022.790.1641

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E3ED109B-70C8-414D-A245-6E3590C9E5B5

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6304083

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/760487F2-FFC4-E962-FD85-FC09D3F6FC55

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818
status

 

Genus Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818 View in CoL

Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818: 288 View in CoL .

Docophorus Nitzsch, 1818: 289 View in CoL (in partim).

Cypseloecus Conci, 1941: 126 View in CoL .

Debeauxoecus Conci, 1941: 126. View in CoL

Docophorulus Eichler, 1944: 80. View in CoL

Bitrabeculus Uchida, 1948: 317. View in CoL

Prunellides Złotorzycka & Eichler, 1984: 219 View in CoL , figs 1–3.

Type species

Pediculus ocellatus Scopoli, 1763 View in CoL , ex Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation ( Neumann 1906).

Geographical distribution

As currently circumscribed ( Mey 2004), likely global apart from Antarctica, but poorly known in the Southern Hemisphere.

Host associations

As currently circumscribed ( Mey 2004), widely distributed across hosts in the Passeriformes . A single species ( Philopterus solus Tendeiro, 1962 ) has been described from a bucerotiform host, but Mey (2004: 200) doubted the authenticity of this record.

Remarks

All species described herein key to the genus Philopterus in the key of Mey (2004), based on having both trabecula and coni, an extensive hyaline margin, dorsal anterior plates that are longer than wide, and ventral carinae that are not recurved towards the preantennal nodi. However, other characters are quite variable among the species described here, and ascertaining homologous structures can be difficult, especially in the male genitalia. Moreover, one distinguishing character of Philopterus in Mey’s key is the similarity in the length of the os, pos, and mts1–3; yet, the relative lengths of these setae vary in the species treated here. The number and position of sensilla of the postantennal head also vary between species. Most likely, this variation corresponds to deep divisions between different groups of Philopterus sensu Mey (2004) , some of which may ultimately be considered different genera or subgenera.

Many species of Philopterus are inadequately described, with much of the description being based on measurements, and most of the illustrations being of characters of limited taxonomic value (prosternal plates, shape of trabecula, single tergopleurites with only some of the setae illustrated). Finding suitable species to compare potential new species with is, therefore, often difficult. Here, we primarily compare our new species with other species from the same, or a closely related host family. In cases where known species of Philopterus on the same host family are clearly very different (e.g., Philopterus afropari sp. nov.), or where no species of Philopterus were described from the same host family, we expanded our comparison to species from other host families, principally ones in the same geographical region. In some cases (e.g., Philopterus hebes sp. nov.), no closely related species of Philopterus were identifiable.

We also referred to the species groups proposed by Złotorzycka & Lucińska (1976); however, these species group are of limited use as they only include Central European species of Philopterus . Moreover, the morphological characters on which these species groups are based are sometimes hard to interpret, differ somewhat between species groups, and are of limited or unknown phylogenetic utility. Finally, all illustrations and descriptions in Złotorzycka’s publications (e.g., Złotorzycka & Lucińska 1976) are partial and poor, and not all species are illustrated. Nevertheless, the partial revisions of Philopterus in Złotorzycka & Lucińska (1976) and Złotorzycka (1964) are the only published attempts to structure the species in Philopterus .

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Psocodea

SuperFamily

Ischnocera

Family

Philopteridae

Loc

Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818

Gustafsson, Daniel R., Najer, Tomas, Zou, Fasheng & Bush, Sarah E. 2022
2022
Loc

Prunellides Złotorzycka & Eichler, 1984: 219

Złotorzycka & Eichler 1984: 219
1984
Loc

Bitrabeculus Uchida, 1948: 317 .

Uchida 1948: 317
1948
Loc

Docophorulus Eichler, 1944: 80 .

Eichler 1944: 80
1944
Loc

Cypseloecus

Conci C. 1941: 126
1941
Loc

Debeauxoecus Conci, 1941: 126 .

Conci 1941: 126
1941
Loc

Philopterus

Nitzsch C. 1818: 288
1818
Loc

Docophorus

Nitzsch 1818: 289
1818
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