Myrsidea castroae Valim, Price and Johnson

Valim, Michel P., Price, Roger D. & Johnson, Kevin P., 2011, New host records and descriptions of five new species of Myrsidea Waterston, 1915 (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes), Zootaxa 3097, pp. 1-19 : 15-17

Myrsidea castroae Valim, Price and Johnson n. sp.

( Figs. 40–41 , 46–48 )

Type host. Atlapetes albinucha gutturalis (Lafresnaye, 1843) —the White-naped Brush-Finch ( Emberizidae ).

Female (n = 3). Habitus as in Fig. 40 . Hypopharynx fully developed, DHS10, 0.03 long; DHS11, 0.11 long. Gula with 4 setae on each side (rarely 5 on one side). Metanotum with 11–13 setae on posterior margin. Setae of femoral brush, 11–16. Metanotum and abdomen as in Fig. 46 . Abdomen with tergites of similar size, tergites II–III with very slight medioposterior convexity. Tergal setae, except on I, with continuous row across segment. Tergal setae: I, 8; II, 18–19; III, 23–26; IV, 23; V, 23–24; VI, 22–25; VII, 19–20; VIII, 16. Postspiracular setae shortest (0.18–0.25) on I, III, V, and VI, and extremely long (0.36–0.44) on II, IV, VII and VIII. Sternal setae: II, each aster of 4 setae, posterior margin with 17–18 and anteriorly with 10–12; III, 24–26; IV, 28; V, 32–37; VI, 31; VII, 16–18; VIII–IX with 10 marginal, 9–10 anterior setae. Sternite III concave anteriorly. Each pleurite II–V with about 5 short marginal setae, 2 of these long on V–VIII. Anus with 33 ventral fringe setae, 30–32 dorsal. Dimensions: TW, 0.42–0.43; HL, 0.29; PW, 0.28–0.29; PSPL, 0.10; MW, 0.42–0.43; MSPL, 0.14; AWIV, 0.58–0.59; ANW, 0.19– 0.20; TL, 1.41–1.47.

Male (n = 1). Habitus as in Fig. 41 . Gula with 4 setae on each side. Metanotum with 11 setae on posterior margin, metasternal plate with 7 setae. Setae of femoral brush, 12–13. Metanotum and abdomen as in Fig. 47 . Tergal setae, except on I, with continuous row across segment. Tergal setae: I, 10; II, 22; III, 22; IV, 25; V, 24; VI, 25; VII, 20; VIII, 18. Tergal and postspiracular setae as for female. Sternal setae: II, each aster of 4 setae, posterior margin with 16 and anteriorly with 13; III, 21; IV, 25; V, 30; VI, 26; VII, 18; VIII, 8. Long setae on pleurites on IV–VII. Genital sac sclerite as in Fig. 48 , with slight apical indentation and distinct subapical lateral projections. Dimensions: TW, 0.39; HL, 0.29; PW, 0.27; PSPL, 0.10; MW, 0.36; MSPL, 0.12; AWIV, 0.43; GL, 0.38; GSL, 0.09; TL, 1.20.

Type material. Holotype female, ex Atlapetes albinucha gutturalis , GMS 1990, PANAMA: Palo Seco, 22 February 2006, K.P. Johnson coll. Paratypes: 1 male and 2 females (females DNA voucher Mysp.Atgut.6.6.2007.8 and Mysp.Atgut.4.26.2006.4), same data as holotype. One female paratype at MZUSP.

Remarks. This species belongs to the “ campestris species group” (sensu Price and Dalgleish, 2007). It is morphologically close to Myrsidea coronatae Price &Dalgleish, 2007 by lacking a median gap in tergal rows for both sexes. However, M. castroae n. sp. can be easily distinguish by its smaller total length (males of M. coronatae 1.29–1.35; females 1.61–1.66) as well as by other measurements; by a smaller number of setae on tergite I in both sexes (males of M. coronatae 16–18, females 13–15); by tergites I–III only slightly enlarged (with modest medioposterior convexity in M. coronatae ); by lacking long setae on pleurite IV of females; and by differences in the male genital sac sclerite. The result of the analyses of partial sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene ( Fig. 49 ) shows M. castroae n. sp. sister to M.rozsai . Females of M. castroae n. sp. differ from those of M. rozsai (II, 23–26; III–IV, 27–32) by fewer numbers of setae on tergites II–IV and the males of M. castroae n. sp. differ from those of M. rozsai (I, 18–22) by fewer number of setae on tergite I.

Etymology. This species is named after Dolores del C. Castro (Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina) in recognition of her many contributions to the taxonomy of South American lice.

Figures

FIGURE 49. Phylogeny based on maximum likelihood analysis of 379 bp of the mitochondrial COI gene for Myrsidea species analyzed by Price and Johnson (2009) and additional species described or redescribed in this paper (bold names). Search involved 10 random addition replicates with the GTR + I + G model following Price and Johnson (2009).

FIGURES 40 – 41. Myrsidea castroae n. sp.: (40) female holotype; (41) male paratype.

FIGURES 42 – 48. Myrsidea cicchinoi: (42) metathorax and dorsoventral abdomen of female; (43) metathorax and dorsoventral abdomen of male; (44) male genital sac sclerite. Myrsidea cinnamomei: (45) male genital sac sclerite. Myrsidea castroae n. sp.: (46) metathorax and dorsoventral abdomen of female; (47) metathorax and dorsoventral abdomen of male; (48) male genital sac sclerite.