Brueelia blagovescenskyi Balat , 1955

Gustafsson, Daniel R., Oslejskova, Lucie, Najer, Tomas, Sychra, Oldrich & Zou, Fasheng, 2019, Redescriptions of thirteen species of chewing lice in the Brueelia - complex (Phthiraptera, Ischnocera, Philopteridae), with one new synonymy and a neotype designation for Nirmus lais Giebel, 1874, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 66 (1), pp. 17-39 : 17-18

Brueelia blagovescenskyi Balat, 1955 Figs 1-2 , 3-5

Brueelia blagovescenskyi Balát, 1955: 504.

Type host.

Emberiza schoeniclus (Linnaeus, 1758), reed bunting ( Emberizidae ).

Type locality.

Hodonín, “Kapřiska”, Czechia.

Description.

Both sexes. Head trapezoidal (Fig. 3 ), lateral margins of preantennal area concave distally and convex proximally, frons widely concave. Marginal carina slender, much displaced at osculum. Ventral anterior plate small, shield-shaped. Head chaetotaxy and pigmentation pattern as in Figure 3 . Preantennal nodi not bulging. Preocular nodi slightly larger than post-ocular nodi. Marginal temporal carina slender, with undulating median margins. Gular plate slender, lanceolate. Thoracic and abdominal segments and pigmentation patterns as in Figures 1 , 2 ; sternites V-VI and subgenital plates medium brown in both sexes.

Male. Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figure 1 ; due to thickness of cover glass on single examined male, smaller setae (e.g., ss) not visible, and may be overlooked. Mandibles distorted in single examined male, and not illustrated. Male genitalia of single examined male partially obscured by gut content, and shape of basal apodeme unknown. Proximal mesosome near quadratic (Fig. 4 ), mesosomal lobes relatively small, gonopore wider than long. Parameres broadly elongated distally (Fig. 4 ). Measurements (n = 1): TL = 1.43; HL = 0.35; HW = 0.27; PRW = 0.17; PTW = 0.25; AW = 0.37.

Female. Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figure 2 . Subgenital plate pentagonal (Fig. 5 ), with broad connection to cross-piece. Vulval margin convergent to median point, with 3 short, slender vms and 3-5 short, thorn-like vss on each side; 4 short, slender vos on each side of subgenital plate; distal 1 vos median to vss. Measurements (n = 2): TL = 1.79-1.80; HL = 0.39-0.40; HW = 0.30-0.31; PRW = 0.20; PTW = 0.29-0.30; AW = 0.45-0.48.

Type material.

Lectotype ♂, Hodonín, “Kapřiska”, Czechia, 2 Apr. 1949, F. Balát, 404a (MMBC). Paralectotypes. 1♀, same data as lectotype, 404b (MMBC).

Non-types. 1♀, same data as lectotype, 404c (MMBC).

Remarks.

Balát (1955) mentioned a type male and female on slide no. 404. The same handwritten notes are on slides 404a and 404b. As Balát (1955) did not explicitly designate a holotype, both examined type specimens mentioned in original description represent syntypes. We hereby designate the male on slide 404a as the lectotype of B. blagovescenskyi . The other syntype becomes a paralectotype. In addition, Balát (1955) mentioned two females and 15 nymphs from the same host species as other (non-type) material. Except one female on slide 404 c, these have not been found in the MMBC collection, and must be assumed to be lost. Our redescription of this species is therefore based only on the lectotype and paralectotype, and the single non-type female.

The lectotype male and paralectotype female (404a-b) are mounted on slides using a second slide used as a cover slide, which blurs the outline of the thoracic and abdominal plates and prevents using higher magnifications. Accurate illustration of the male genitalia is impossible without remounting the specimen, which was not attempted; the genitalia are therefore illustrated approximately. Moreover, smaller setae are very hard to see, and especially smaller abdominal setae of the male may have been overlooked. The female 404b lacks a subgenital plate. For the head and female illustrations, the non-type female specimen (slide 404c) was used. Fresh collections are needed to establish the correct abdominal and leg chaetotaxy of males of this species, as well as the shape of the male genitalic elements.

Figures

Figures 1, 2. Brueelia blagovescenskyi Balat, 1955, ex Emberiza schoeniclus (Linnaeus, 1758) 1 Male habitus, dorsal and ventral views 2 Female habitus, dorsal and ventral views.

Figures 3 - 5. Brueelia blagovescenskyi Balat, 1955, ex Emberiza schoeniclus (Linnaeus, 1758) 3 Female head, dorsal and ventral views 4 Male genitalia, dorsal view 5 Female subgenital plate and vulval margin, ventral view.