Brueelia inusta Gustafsson & Grossi & Halajian & Engelbrecht 2024, new species
Creators: name: Gustafsson, Daniel R.
name: Grossi, Alexandra A.
name: Halajian, Ali
name: Engelbrecht, Derek
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Psocodea
Philopteridae
Brueelia
Brueelia inusta

description: Brueelia inusta new species
(Figs 4, 14, 27–33, 39–40)
Type host: Ploceus velatus tahatali Smith, 1836 —Southern masked weaver.
Type locality: Old Herbarium, University of Limpopo, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Diagnosis. In the key of Gustafsson et al. (2019a), males of B. inusta n. sp. key out to Brueelia sima Gustafsson et al., 2019a, based on the abdominal chaetotaxy, and females key out to Brueelia semiscalaris. However, the morphologically most similar species to B. inusta is B. oschadlei n. sp.; for characters separating these two new species, see above.
Brueelia inusta can be separated from Brueelia sima by the following characters: lateral margins of preantennal head more convex in B. inusta (Fig. 29) than in B. sima; proximal mesosome proportionately smaller and gonopore proportionately larger in B. inusta (Fig. 31) than in B. sima; parameres much elongated in B. inusta (Fig. 32) compared to B. sima; female vulval margin with only 1 vms on each side in B. sima, but with 4–6 vms on each side in B. inusta (Fig. 33).
Brueelia inusta can be separated from B. semiscalaris by the following characters: head proportionately rounder and broader in B. inusta (Fig. 29) than in B. semiscalaris; female abdominal segments IV–VII with 2 ps on each side in B. semiscalaris, but with 1 ps on each side in B. inusta (Fig. 28); dark pigmentation of male subgenital plate more extensive in B. inusta (Fig. 4) than in B. semiscalaris (Fig. 8); male parameres slender and elongated, about 2 times as long as mesosome, in B. inusta (Fig. 30), but stouter, not elongated and less than 1.5 times as long as mesosome in B. semiscalaris; proximal mesosome somewhat flattened and irregular in B. inusta (Fig. 31), but gently rounded in B. semiscalaris; female vulval margin more flattened in B. semiscalaris than in B. inusta (Fig. 33), and with fewer vms (4–6) and vss (3–4) in B. inusta (Fig. 33) than in B. semiscalaris (6–7 and 7–8, respectively).
Description. Head rounded triangular (Fig. 29), lateral margins of preantennal area clearly convex, frons shallowly concave. Marginal carina slender, deeply displaced and somewhat widened at osculum. Ventral anterior plate small. Head chaetotaxy and pigmentation patterns as in Fig. 29. Preantennal nodi broad. Preocular nodi larger than postocular nodi. Marginal temporal carina variable in width, with undulating median margin. Thoracic and abdominal segments, chaetotaxy, and pigmentation patterns as in Figs 27–28.Anterior dark band of female subgenital plate continuous with central dark area. Male abdominal chaetotaxy: ss present on tergopleurites V–VIII; tps present on tergopleurites VII–VIII; psps present on tergopleurites VI–VII; aps present on tergopleurites VI–VII; ps present on segments IV–VIII. Female abdominal chaetotaxy: ss, tps, aps absent; psps present on tergopleurites VI–VII; ps present on segments IV–VIII. Proximal section of basal apodeme not clearly delimited and not illustrated; holotype (Fig. 39) with genitalia everted and folded anteriorly, and basal apodeme thus slightly constricted compared to other males (Fig. 30). Proximal mesosome trapezoidal, with irregular somewhat flattened, anterior margin (Fig. 31). Mesosomal lobes convergent distally, with extensive rugose areas. Gonopore large, rounded. Penile arms not extended beyond distal margin of mesosome. Parameres elongated, sinuous, with pst1–2 as in Fig. 32. Female subgenital plate rounded trapezoidal, with broad connection to cross-piece (Fig. 33). Vulval margin rounded convergent to median point, with 4–6 short, slender vms and 3–4 short, thorn-like vss on each side; 2–4 short, slender vos on each side of subgenital plate; distal 1 vos on each side median to vss. Measurements are given in Table 1.
Etymology: The species epithet derives from “ inustus ”, Latin for “burnt”, referring to the pigmentation patterns.
Type material. Ex Ploceus velatus tahatali: Holotype ♂, Old Herbarium, University of Limpopo, Limpopo Province, South Africa, 11 Sep. 2014, coll. A. Halajian, SAFRING BC09995 (NMHL). Paratypes: 1♀, same data as holotype (NHML). 1♂, 1♀, same data as holotype, SAFRING BB72401 (NHML). 1♂, 1♀, same data as holotype, SAFRING BB72402 (NHML). 1♂, 1♀, Polokwane Game Reserve, Polokwane, Limpopo Province, South Africa, 11 Feb. 2012, coll. A. Halajian, Pve-PGR2 (NHML). 1♀, same data as previous, Pve-PGR3 (NHML). 1♂, 1♀, same data as previous, SAFRING CV27561, Pve-PGR4 (NHML). 1♀, University of Limpopo, Limpopo Province, South Africa, 28 Sep. 2012, coll. A. Halajian, SAFRING CV27571, Pve-PGR11 (NHML). 1♂, 1♀, same data as previous, SAFRING CV27573, Pve-PGR12 (NHML). 1♀, De Loskop, Limpopo Province, South Africa, 7 Dec. 2012, coll. A. Halajian, SAFRING CV27598, Pve-PGR17 (NHML). 1♂, 1♀, same data as previous, SAFRING CV65202, Pve-PGR 20 (NHML).
description: Published as part of Gustafsson, Daniel R., Grossi, Alexandra A., Halajian, Ali & Engelbrecht, Derek, 2024, New species and new records of Brueelia Kéler, 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) from South Africa, pp. 88-104 in Zootaxa 5446 (1) on pages 95-98, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5446.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/11084635