Guimaraesiella tovornikae ( Balat , 1981)

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 : 36

Guimaraesiella tovornikae ( Balat, 1981)

Allonirmus tovornikae Balát, 1981: 281.

Nigronirmus atricapillae Soler-Cruz et al., 1984: 147.

Brueelia atricapillae Soler-Cruz et al., 1984; Price et al. 2003: 153 (nec B. atricapilla Cicchino, 1983: 290).

Brueelia neoatricapillae Price, Hellenthal & Palma, 2003 [in Price et al.: 153].

Guimaraesiella tovornikae ( Balát, 1981); Gustafsson and Bush 2017: 222.

Type host.

Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1758), blackcap ( Sylviidae ).

Type locality.

Antošovice, Czechia.

Remarks.

Balát (1981) reported four males and three females of this species from three localities in Czechia and Yugoslavia. The male on slide 1383 was explicitly designated as holotype, and the other specimens as paratypes. Unfortunately, these slides cannot be found at the MMBC, and we have been unable to trace them elsewhere. The type material of this species must be regarded as lost.

This is unfortunate, as A. tovornikae is considered to be a senior synonym of Nigronirmus atricapillae Soler-Cruz et al., 1984, from the same host ( Gustafsson and Bush 2017). While this synonymy should not be controversial, considering the morphological similarities of the two species, any neotype designation for A. tovornikae will need to take the synonymy with N. atricapillae into consideration. For this, fresh material is needed.