Molecular phylogenetics of the avian feather louse Philopterus-complex (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae).

The avian feather louse Philopterus-complex (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) currently contains 12 genera that have been grouped together because of shared morphological characteristics. Although previously lumped into a single genus (Philopterus), more recent morphological treatments have separated the group into several different genera. Here we evaluate the status of these genera using DNA sequence data from 118 ingroup specimens belonging to ten genera in the Philopterus-complex: Australophilopterus Mey, 2004, Cinclosomicola Mey 2004, Clayiella Eichler, 1940, Corcorides Mey, 2004, Mayriphilopterus Mey, 2004, Paraphilopterus Mey 2004, Philopteroides Mey 2004, Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818, Tyranniphilopterus Mey, 2004, and Vinceopterus Gustafsson, Lei, Chu, Zou, and Bush, 2019. Our sampling includes 97 new louse-host association records. Our analyses suggest that the genus Debeauxoecus Conci, 1941, parasitic on pittas (Aves: Pittidae), is outside of the Philopterus-complex, and that there is strong support for the monophyly of a group containing the remaining genera from the complex. Some diverse genera, such as Philopterus (sensu stricto) and Mayriphilopterus are supported as monophyletic, whereas the genera Australophilopterus, Philopteroides, and Tyranniphilopterus are not. The present study is the largest phylogenetic reconstruction of avian lice belonging to the Philopterus-complex to date and suggests that further generic revision is needed in the group to integrate molecular and morphological information.

New species and additional data on the chewing louse genus Myrsidea (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from wild Neotropical Passeriformes (Aves).

Twenty-four species of chewing lice of the genus Myrsidea Waterston, 1915 (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from Neotropical Suboscines (Passeriformes: Formicariidae, Furnariidae, Pipridae, Thamnophilidae, Tityridae, Tyrannidae) are recorded and discussed. They include: eight new species which are described and illustrated (Myrsidea capeki new species ex Chiroxiphia caudata; Myrsidea leptopogoni new species ex Leptopogon superciliaris; Myrsidea leucophthalmi new species ex Automolus leucophthalmus; Myrsidea pachyramphi new species ex Pachyramphus polychopterus; Myrsidea philydori new species ex Philydor rufum; Myrsidea pyriglenae new species ex Pyriglena leucoptera; Myrsidea scleruri new species ex Sclerurus scansor and Myrsidea zuzanae new species ex Furnarius rufus), as well as nine previously known species with additional data on intraspecific morphological variability, host associations and geographical distribution (Myrsidea barbati Price, Hellenthal Dalgleish, 2005; Myrsidea dalgleishi Valim, Price Johnson, 2011; Myrsidea flaviventris Price, Hellenthal Dalgleish, 2005; Myrsidea klimesi Sychra, 2006; Myrsidea meyi Valim, Price Johnson, 2011; Myrsidea oleaginei Price, Hellenthal Dalgleish, 2005; Myrsidea olivacei Price, Hellenthal Dalgleish, 2005; Myrsidea pitangi Price, Hellenthal Dalgleish, 2005 and Myrsidea spellmani Price, Johnson Dalgleish, 2008b). Seven further species are recorded at genus level only due to lack of adequate material. A 379 bp portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was sequenced from seven species in order to assess relative genetic divergences among Myrsidea populations.

New records of chewing lice (Insecta, Phthiraptera) from Brazilian birds (Aves) collected by Helmut Sick (1910-1991)

ABSTRACT We list the genera and species of chewing lice collected from birds by Helmut Sick, mainly from central Brazil, and particularly during the Roncador-Xingu Expedition, between 1943 and 1949. From the 123 samples studied, a wide variety of chewing louse genera and species were found, including 34 species as new records for Brazil, 37 species recorded from new Brazilian localities and 23 new host records. All material is deposited in the ectoparasite collection of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo.

The feather louse genus Mulcticola Clay et Meinertzhagen, 1938 (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) from Brazil, with descriptions of five new species and catalogue for species described in the genus.

Five new species of Mulcticola Clay et Meinertzhagen, 1938 are described and illustrated from Brazil. These new species and their hosts are: Mulcticola sicki sp. n. from the sand-coloured nighthawk, Chordeiles rupestris rupestris (Spix), Mulcticola bacurau sp. n. from the common pauraque, Nyctidromus albicollis (Gmelin), Mulcticola tendeiroi sp. n. from the long-trained nightjar, Macropsalis forcipata (Nitzsch), Mulcticola piacentinii sp. n. from the short-tailed nighthawk, Lurocalis semitorquatus semitorquatus (Gmelin) (type-host) and L. s. nattereri (Temminck), and Mulcticola parvulus sp. n. from the little nightjar, Setopagis parvula (Gould). These species were compared primarily with Mulcticola nacunda Carriker, 1945 from the nacunda nighthawk, Chordeiles nacunda nacunda (Vieillot), which is one of the species of Mulcticola previously recorded in the Neotropical region. All the five new species described herein differ from their congeners by exclusive characters such as the shape of anterior dorsal head plate, metasternal plate, subvulvar plates in females and genitalia in males. We increased the number of species in Mulcticola to 18 in total, with seven of them now known from the Neotropics. We present the main morphological characters to distinguish Mulcticola from other species of the Philopteridae parasitising Caprimulgiformes and also compile a detailed catalogue for species included in this louse genus.