Turdinirmus Eichler 1951
Creators: name: Bush, Sarah E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Phthiraptera
Philopteridae
Turdinirmus

description: Turdinirmus Eichler, 1951
Nirmus Nitzsch, 1818: 291 (in partim). Brueelia Kéler, 1936a: 257 (in partim). Turdinirmus Eichler, 1951b: 41.
Turdinirmus Eichler, 1952: 78.
Type species. Nirmus merulensis Denny, 1842: 51, by original designation.
Diagnosis. Turdinirmus is superficially similar to Turdinirmoides n. gen. in general habitus and preantennal structure, but Turdinirmoides (Fig. 177) lacks pos and pns, which are present in Turdinirmus (Figs 184, 191). In addition, the marginal carina may be interrupted laterally in Turdinirmus (not illustrated) where the dorsal preantennal suture reaches the lateral margin of the head, but this is not the case in Turdinirmoides (Fig. 177). In Turdinirmoides there is no displaced section of the marginal carina at the osculum, whereas in Turdinirmus (Figs 184, 191) this is present as a distinct sinuous thickening of the dorsal anterior plate, similar to Resartor n. gen. (Fig. 163) or Ceratocista n. gen. (Fig. 155). Male and female genitalia also differ, as explained in the diagnosis of Turdinirmoides (see above).
Turdinirmus is also superficially similar to Maculinirmus, and the abdominal chaetotaxy of these two genera (Table 2) is identical. Other characters shared by Maculinirmus and Turdinirmus include: dorsal preantennal sutures reaches the ads in both Turdinirmus (Figs 184, 191) and Maculinirmus (Figs 198, 205), and reach or nearly reach the dsms and the lateral margin of the head, but does not separate the dorsal anterior plate from the main head plate medianly, and does not entirely interrupt the marginal carina laterally; pos and pns present (Figs 184, 191, 198, 205); female subgenital plate of both Maculinirmus (Figs 202, 209) and Turdinirmus (Figs 188, 195) approach, but do not reach, the vulval margin, and in neither genus does it form a cross-piece; fI-v4 is absent in both genera; at least some sternal plates of both sexes have more than one sts on each side (Figs 182–183, 189–190, 196–197, 203–204). These two genera can be separated by the following characters: the sinuous ridge of the dorsal anterior plate found in Turdinirmus (Figs 182, 189) is absent in Maculinirmus (Figs 198, 205); the large, angular temples seen in some Turdinirmus (e.g. Tu. australissimus n. sp., Fig. 191) are never seen in Maculinirmus (Figs 198, 205); marginal temporal carina in Maculinirmus is always slender (Figs 198, 205), whereas in Turdinirmus it is always wide and irregular (Figs 184, 191); female tergopleurite XI is absent or so small and pale that it cannot be seen in Maculinirmus (Figs 197, 204), whereas in Turdinirmus (Figs 183, 190) tergopleurite IX+X is fused with tergopleurite XI; parameral heads are folded into U-shapes in Maculinirmus (Figs 201, 208), but not in Turdinirmus (Figs 187, 194); mesosomal lobes in Maculinirmus are rounded and marginal thickenings are either vague (Fig. 199) or absent (Fig. 206), whereas in Turdinirmus the lobes are more angular with a distinct marginal thickening (Figs 185, 192).
Description. Both sexes. Head trapezoidal (Fig. 184) to concave-dome shaped (Fig. 191). Marginal carina broad, interrupted at least submedianly, but may be interrupted laterally as well (not illustrated). Hyaline margin continuous with dorsal preantennal suture reaching ads and reaching or nearly reaching dsms, extending median to ads but not completely separating dorsal anterior plate from main head plate. Dorsal anterior plate with sinuous thickening near posterior end, which may be displaced section of marginal carina at osculum. Ventral carinae diffuse anterior to pulvinus, and not clearly continuous with marginal carina. Ventral anterior plate present, crescent-shaped. Head setae as in Figs 184, 191. Preantennal nodi distinct. Coni small. Antennae monomorphic; mts 3 only long setae. Temporal carinae not clearly visible. Marginal temporal carina broad. Gular plate triangular with concave margins.
Prothorax (Figs 182–183, 189–190) rectangular; ppss on postero-lateral corner. Proepimera with hook- or hammer-shaped median ends. Pterothorax pentagonal; lateral margins divergent; posterior margin convergent to broadly rounded median point. Meso- and metasterna not fused; 1 seta on postero-lateral corner on each side of each plate. Metepisterna with large, blunt median ends. mms widely interrupted medianly. Leg chaetotaxy as in Fig. 25, except fI-v4, fI-p2 absent.
Abdomen (Figs 182–183, 189–190) oval. Abdominal chaetotaxy as in Table 2. Tergopleurites rectangular; tergopleurites II–IX+X in male and tergopleurites II–VIII in female narrowly divided medianly; tergopleurite IX+X fused to tergopleurite XI in female. Sternal plates rectangular, not approaching pleurites. Pleural incrassations wide. Re-entrant heads large, elaborate. Male subgenital plate trapezoidal, reaching posterior end of abdomen. Female subgenital plate pentagonal (Fig. 188) to triangular (Fig. 195), approaching vulval margin. No cross-piece present. Vulval margin (Figs 188, 195) with slender vms, numerous thorn-like vss; vos follows lateral margins of subgenital plate; distal vos median to vss.
Basal apodeme trapezoidal (Fig. 185) to rounded with mid-length constriction (Fig. 192), distal half with transverse arch. Proximal mesosome flattened, differing in shape among species. Gonopore (Figs 186, 193) open distally and proximally, as parallel or converging thickenings. Mesosomal lobes wide, short, angular or rounded. Marginal thickenings of lobes follow margin for entire length. Up to 3 pmes visible lateral to gonopore. Parameral heads (Figs 187, 194) bifid, not folded into horseshoe-shapes. Parameral blades broadly curved; pst1 sensillus, submarginal or central; pst2 microseta, on lateral margin near distal tip.
Host distribution. Turdidae.
Geographical range. Throughout Old World.
Remarks. No representative of Turdinirmus was included in the phylogeny of Bush et al. (2016), but the structure of the preantennal area and the male genitalia suggest that the genus may be close to Maculinirmus or Turdinirmoides.
Martín-Mateo (2009: 339) claimed that no description or indication was included when Eichler (1951b) named this genus, making the name unavailable until Złotorzycka (1964a) provided a description. Eichler (1951b: 13) did, however, state that the group (the “ viscivori - Typ sensu meo”) have a characteristic head shape and share some other characteristics with the type species, Tu. merulensis. Under the entry for this species, Eichler (1951b: 15) states that Tu. merulensis has a characteristic “docophorid” head shape, providing an illustration of the head (Eichler 1951b: 16, fig. 15) showing the characteristic angular temples, broad carinae, and hints at the dorsal preantennal suture characteristic of the genus. Złotorzycka (1964a: 267) mentions only the habitus, the size (“enormous” for a “Brueeliinae”) and that, like Penenirmus s. l., Turdinirmus has an interrupted marginal carina. This does not provide a more definite description than Eichler’s (1951b); we therefore retain Eichler (1951b) as author of Turdinirmus. As an additional note, Eichler (1952: 78) described the genus as new for a second time, but did not provide any additional characters. It is unclear whether this description is based on the same material or not, as Eichler (1952) does not refer to any specimens.
Złotorzycka (1964a, 1997) disagreed with Hopkins & Clay’s (1952) synonymization of Turdinirmus with Brueelia, and Mey (1982b: 179) claimed that the genus was well separated from Brueelia, and provided some illustrations, but did not list any diagnostic characters. Most recently, Mey & Barker (2014) and Valim & Palma (2015) have considered this genus to be valid, and both recognise Eichler (1951b) as the author, but neither provides additional arguments in support of their taxonomic conclusions.
Species parasitic on Zoothera spp. have more clearly angular temples than species parasitic on Turdus spp. (see Tu. merulensis, Fig. 184, and Tu. australissimus, Fig. 191), but are otherwise similar, and we do not feel this difference is sufficient to erect different species groups.
Included species
* Turdinirmus australissimus new species
* Turdinirmus daumae (Clay, 1936: 910) [in Degeeriella] Turdinirmus eichleri Mey, 1982b: 179
Brueelia neoeichleri Price, Hellenthal & Palma, 2003: 157, new synonymy [1] * Turdinirmus merulensis (Denny, 1842: 51) [in Nirmus]
Nirmus merulae Denny, 1852: 18
Nirmus mandarinus Giglioli, 1864: 23
* Turdinirmus stresemanni (Clay, 1936: 910) [in Degeeriella] * Turdinirmus zootherae (Clay, 1936: 909) [in Degeeriella]
[1] Turdinirmus merulensis eichleri Mey, 1982b (= Brueelia neoeichleri Price et al. 2003), is homonymous with Brueelia eichleri Lakshminarayana, 1969, only when the two species are considered to belong to the same genus. However, we regard Brueelia eichleri Lakshminarayana as a junior synonym of Mirandofures muniae Eichler, 1957 (see Mirandofures), hence we do not consider the two homonymous species congeneric. We follow Article 59.4 (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999) and reinstate Turdinirmus eichleri Mey (1982b) as valid species.
description: Published as part of Bush, Sarah E., 2017, Morphological revision of the hyperdiverse Brueelia - complex (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) with new taxa, checklists and generic key, pp. 1-443 in Zootaxa 4313 (1) on pages 117-119, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4313.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/883161