Myrsidea leucophthalmi Kolencik & Sychra & Papousek & Kuabara & Valim & Literak 2018, new species
Creators: name: Kolencik, Stanislav
name: Sychra, Oldrich
name: Papousek, Ivo
name: Kuabara, Kamila M. D.
name: Valim, Michel P.
name: Literak, Ivan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Phthiraptera
Menoponidae
Myrsidea
Myrsidea leucophthalmi

description: Myrsidea leucophthalmi, new species
(Figs 2, 6–7, 18–19)
Type host. Automolus leucophthalmus (Wied, 1821)—white-eyed foliage-gleaner.
Type locality. San Rafael National Park, Paraguay (26°30'S, 55°47'W).
Type material. Ex Automolus leucophthalmus: holotype ♀, San Rafael National Park, Paraguay (26°30'S, 55°47'W), 18 and 20 August 2012, I. Literak (MMBC). Paratypes: 2♀, 3♂ with the same data as holotype (MMBC).
Diagnosis. Myrsidea leucophthalmi n. sp. is morphologically close to M. ochrolaemi Sychra [in Sychra et al.], 2007 in the following characters: (1) male genital sac sclerite, (2) female metanotum slightly enlarged with rounded posterior margin and (3) shape of abdominal tergites of female. However, M. leucophthalmi is easily distinguished from M. ochrolaemi by (1) fewer setae on: female tergite I (19–21 vs 22–33), female tergites II–IV (14–17 vs 18–33); male tergite IV (12–14 vs 15–20) and tergite V (12–13 vs 14–17); (2) presence of continuous row of setae on tergite I only (vs continuous row of setae on tergite I–III in M. ochrolaemi) (3) fewer setae on female sternites IV and V (32–37 vs 39–48).
Description. Female (n = 3). As in Figs 2 and 18. Hypopharyngeal sclerites fully developed. Length of dhs 10, 0.043–0.063; dhs 11, 0.108–0.127; ratio dhs 10/11, 0.39–0.54; ls5, 0.03 long, latero-ventral fringe with 9–10 setae. Gula with 3–4 setae on each side. Pronotum with 6 setae on posterior margin and 3 short spiniform setae at each lateral corner. Prosternal plate with rounded anterior margin (Fig. 2). First tibia with 3 outer ventro-lateral and 4 dorso-lateral setae. Metanotum slightly enlarged with rounded posterior margin, with 11–15 marginal setae; metasternal plate with 6–8 setae; metapleurites with 3–4 short strong spiniform. Femur III with 14–19 setae in ventral setal brush. Tergites not enlarged and unmodified, only tergite I and II with very slightly rounded posterior margin (Fig. 2). Abdominal segments with continuous row of setae on tergite I and median gap in the row of tergal setae on tergites II–VIII. Tergal setae: I, 19–21; II, 17; III, 15–17; IV, 14–16; V, 14; VI, 12–14; VII, 10–12; VIII, 4– 5. Postspiracular setae very long on II, IV and VIII (0.45–0.50); long on I and VII (0.26–0.37); and short on III, V and VI (0.11–0.23). Inner posterior seta of last tergum not longer than anal fringe setae with length 0.02–0.05; length of short lateral marginal seta of last segment, 0.05. Pleural setae: I, 7–9; II, 9–10; III, 8–11; IV, 8–9; V, 7–8; VI, 6; VII, 5; VIII, 3. Pleurites mostly with short spine-like setae; slender and longer setae on pleurites IV–VII, 0– 2; without anterior setae. Pleurite VIII with inner setae (0.05–0.06) as long as outer (0.05–0.06). Anterior margin of sternal plate II with a medial notch. Sternal setae: I, 0; II, 5 in each aster, aster setae length: s1, 0.10–0.12; s2, 0.07– 0.11; s3, 0.05–0.06; s4, 0.05–0.06; s5, 0.03–0.04; with 11–13 marginal setae between asters, 4–6 medioanterior; III, 20–24; IV, 32–37; V, 33–37; VI, 30–31; VII, 16–19; VIII–IX, 13–16; and 14–18 setae on deeply serrated vulvar margin; in one specimen sternites IV–V with 1 medioanterior seta. Anal fringe formed by 43–51 dorsal and 45–47 ventral setae. Dimensions: TW, 0.49–0.50; POW, 0.37; HL, 0.34–0.35; PW, 0.30–0.32; MW, 0.48–0.51; AWIV, 0.65–0.66; ANW, 0.27; TL, 1.50–1.55.
Male (n = 3). As in Fig. 19. Similar to female except as follows: length of dhs 10, 0.048–0.050; dhs 11, 0.100– 0.113; ratio dhs 10/11, 0.44–0.48; ls5 0.03–0.04 long, latero-ventral fringe with 9–10 setae. Gula with 3 setae on each side. Metanotum not enlarged with 8–10 marginal setae; metasternal plate with 7 setae; metapleurites with 3– 4 short spiniform strong setae. Femur III with 11–15 setae in ventral setal brush. Abdominal segments with welldefined median gap in each row of tergal setae. Tergal setae: I, 12–16; II, 12–15; III, 1 1–15; IV, 12–14; V, 12–13; VI, 12–14; VII, 11; VIII, 4–6; Postspiracular setae very long on II, IV and VIII (0.45–0.49); long on I and VII (0.20–0.31); and short on III, V and VI (0.07–0.12). Length of inner posterior seta of last tergum, 0.04–0.05; short lateral marginal seta of last segment, 0.02. Pleural setae: I, 5–7; II, 7–9; III, 7–8; IV, 6–8; V, 5–7; VI, 4–5; VII, 4; VIII, 3. Pleurites I–III with only short spine-like setae; pleurites IV–VII with 1–2 slender setae; without anterior setae. Pleurite VIII with inner setae (0.05–0.06) twice as long as outer (0.02–0.03). Anterior margin of sternal plate II with a medial notch. Sternal setae: I, 0; II, 5 in each aster: s1, 0.08–0.10; s2, 0.07–0.10; s3, 0.06–0.07; s4, 0.04– 0.06; s5, 0.03–0.04; with 12–13 marginal setae between asters, 5–6 medioanterior; III, 17–21; IV, 24–28; V, 28–30; VI, 25–28; VII, 19–20; VIII, 14; remainder of plate, 13–15; and with 5–6 setae posteriorly; in one species sternite VIII with 1 medioanterior seta. With 8 internal anal setae. Genital sac sclerite as in Figs 6–7. Dimensions: TW, 0.43–0.45; POW, 0.32–0.33; HL, 0.30–0.32; PW, 0.26–0.28; MW, 0.39–0.40; AWIV, 0.48–0.49; GW, 0.08–0.12; GSL, 0.08–0.12; TL, 1.28–1.29.
Etymology. The species epithet is a noun in apposition derived from the species name of the type host.
Remarks. This is the first record of a chewing louse from Automolus leucophthalmus. A portion of COI gene was sequenced from specimens of M. leucophthalmi from Paraguay (GenBank MF563529). As expected, the closest species among other published sequences of Neotropical Myrsidea was M. ochrolaemi (ex Automolus ochrolaemus (Tschudi, 1844), family Furnariidae, GenBank JN638820), with a sequence divergence of 11.7%. This divergence is close to the limit of accepted interspecific variation (see Price et al. 2008a; Kolencik et al. 2017) but, together with their morphological differences, we are confident that M. leucophthalmi and M. ochrolaemi represent separate species.
description: Published as part of Kolencik, Stanislav, Sychra, Oldrich, Papousek, Ivo, Kuabara, Kamila M. D., Valim, Michel P. & Literak, Ivan, 2018, New species and additional data on the chewing louse genus Myrsidea (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from wild Neotropical Passeriformes (Aves), pp. 401-431 in Zootaxa 4418 (5) on pages 408-409, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4418.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1244956