Saemundssonia (Saemundssonia) albatrossa Palma, 2012, new species
Creators: name: Palma, Ricardo L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Phthiraptera
Philopteridae
Saemundssonia
Saemundssonia albatrossa

description: Saemundssonia (Saemundssonia) albatrossa new species
(Figs 1–4, 11, 18)
Saemundssonia sp.; Pilgrim & Palma 1982: 6 –7. Saemundssonia sp.; Murray, Palma & Pilgrim 1990: 1368. Saemundssonia sp. M; Palma 2010: 409.
Type host. Phoebetria palpebrata (Forster, 1785).
Type locality. Muriwai Beach, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Holotype: 3 in MONZ.
Diagnosis. Male: habitus as in Fig. 1. Clypeal signature as in Fig. 3. Genitalia as in Fig. 11. Eight long submarginal metanotal setae on each side (occasionally 6 or 7 on one side).
Female: habitus as in Fig. 2. Clypeal signature as in Fig. 4. Ventral pigmented plates of the last abdominal segments as in Fig. 18. Eight long submarginal metanotal setae on each side (occasionally 6 or 7 on one side).
Measurements of both sexes as in Table 1.
number & sex (at temples) (including hyaline (including hyaline Genitalia length
margin) margin)
Etymology. The species epithet albatrossa is a noun in apposition referring to the vernacular name of the hosts.
Material examined. Types. Ex Phoebetria palpebrata (Forster, 1785): Holotype 3, Muriwai Beach, Auckland, N.Z., 11 Dec. 1978, S.M. Reed (MONZ, AI.023782). Paratypes: 113, 12Ƥ, same data as for holotype (MONZ, AI.023783–023784); 53, 5Ƥ, Manawatu, N.Z., 15 Aug. 1964, L.L. McMillan (MONZ, AI.023778–779); 1Ƥ, at sea, 59o 04’ S – 161o 46’ E, 13 Feb. 1965, P.C. Harper (MONZ, AI.023780); 13, 5Ƥ, Urenui Beach, Taranaki, N.Z., 14 Sep. 1976, J. Castle (MONZ, AI.023781).
Non-types. Ex Thalassarche chrysostoma (Forster, 1785): 1Ƥ, Kapiti Island, N.Z., 21 Mar. 1959, B.D. Jones (MONZ, AI.023787); 13, 2Ƥ, Otaki Beach, N.Z., 24 May 1959, D.M. 9236 (MONZ, AI.023788); 53, 11Ƥ, Hokio Beach, Manawatu, N.Z., 13 Jun. 1965, P.C. Harper, D.M. 11837 (MONZ, AI.023789–791); 13, 4Ƥ, Dargaville, Northland, N.Z., 22 Sep. 1974, D.E. Crockett (MONZ, AI.023792); 33, 5Ƥ, Himatangi Beach, Manawatu, N.Z., 30 Aug. 1978, H. Eastcott (MONZ, AI.023793); 73, 5Ƥ, Peka Peka Beach, Kapiti Coast, North Island, N.Z., 26 Sep. 1987, M. Hurst (MONZ, AI.023794).
Ex Thalassarche impavida Mathews, 1912: 23, 1Ƥ, Campbell Island, N.Z., 2 Dec. 1975, C.J. Robertson (MONZ, AI.023785).
Remarks. Saemundssonia (Saemundssonia) albatrossa is morphologically closest to S. (S.) gaini (Neumann, 1913), which parasitises giant petrels, Macronectes giganteus (Gmelin, 1789) and M. halli Mathews, 1912. However, S. (S.) albatrossa differs from S. (S.) gaini in the male genitalia (Fig. 11 and Fig. 12, respectively), especially in the relative length of the parameres and in the configuration of the endomeres and mesosome, and in the shape of the clypeal signatures in both sexes (Figs 3–4 and Figs 5–6, respectively).
The finding of a species of Saemundssonia on albatrosses closely related to the species parasitising giant petrels is congruent with other associations between giant petrels and their lice. Palma & Pilgrim (1988: 585) discussed these host-louse associations in regard to the louse genera Docophoroides Giglioli, 1864, Perineus Thompson, 1936 and Paraclisis Timmermann, 1965, with species living on all members of the Diomedeidae and on the two species of Macronectes. Lice of those three genera living on giant petrels are morphologically closest to species living on albatrosses of the genera Thalassarche Reichenbach, 1853 and Phoebetria Reichenbach, 1853 (Timmermann 1965: 87, 100; Palma & Pilgrim 1988: 584). Saemundssonia (S.) albatrossa and S. (S.) gaini show the same close association between these host groups. Considering the unanimously accepted position of Macronectes within the family Procellariidae, and not in the Diomedeidae, the unusual host-louse associations of the two species of giant petrels are likely to be the result of four louse lineages host-switching from a diomedeid host to an early giant petrel, with the loss of the latter’s ancestral philopterid lice. The only louse species which shows affinities between Macronectes and other members of the Procellariidae is the menoponid Austromenopon ossifragae (Eichler, 1949) (see Price & Clay 1972: 491).
description: Published as part of Palma, Ricardo L., 2012, Three new species of the louse genus Saemundssonia (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Philopteridae), pp. 38-48 in Zootaxa 3478 on pages 39-41, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.214088