Brueelia canyonica Gustafsson & Bush 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gustafsson, Daniel R.
name: Bush, Sarah E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Phthiraptera
Philopteridae
Brueelia
Brueelia canyonica

description: Brueelia canyonica sp. nov.   
 Type host   
 Melozone fusca (Swainson 1827) – canyon towhee.   
 Type locality   
Las Vacas, Coahuila, Mexico.  
 Diagnosis   
 Brueelia canyonica sp. nov. is most similar to Brueelia californica sp. nov., with which it shares the following characters: aps absent from male tergopleurites VI–VII (Figures 7a and 9a); ss present on male tergopleurite V (Figures 7a and 9a); ps absent on male abdominal segment III (Figures 7a and 9a), but present on female abdominal segment III (Figures 7b and 9b); gonopore broad (8c and 10c); rugose area of mesosomal lobes confined to posterior margin (8c and 9c). These two species can be separated by the following characters: proximal mesosome narrowly rounded in B. californica (Figure 8c), but broadly rounded in B. canyonica (Figure 10c); gonopore with concave antero-lateral corners in B. californica (Figure 8c), but with rounded antero-lateral margins in B. canyonica (Figure 10c).   
 Description   
 Both sexes. Head convex dome-shaped (Figure 10a), lateral margins of preantennal head slightly convex, frons flattened to slightly concave. Marginal carina moderate, deeply displaced and slightly widened at osculum; median margins undulated. Ventral anterior plate small, roughly rectangular. Head chaetotaxy as in Figure 10a. Preantennal nodi slender, slightly bulging. Pre- and postocular nodi moderate. Marginal temporal carina with very irregular median margin. Gular plate lanceolate. Thoracic and abdominal segments as in Figure 9a–b. Base pigmentation very pale, except marginal carina, margins of antennal socket, marginal temporal carina, proepimera, metepisterna, and lateral margins of tergopleurites III–VIII with brown pigmentation.   
 Male. Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figure 9a; ss present on tergopleurite V; tps absent on tergopleurites II–VII in holotype, but present on tergopleurite VII in paratype; aps absent on tergopleurites II–VII in holotype, but present on tergopleurite VII in paratype; ps absent on abdominal segment III. Basal apodeme narrowing anteriorly (Figure 10b). Proximal mesosome broad, anterior margin slightly convex, overall shape roughly trapezoidal (Figure 10c). Mesosomal lobes wide, angular, with rugose area limited to distal margin; 2 pmes sensilla on each side of gonopore. Gonopore broad, distal margin concave, anterior margin convex. Penile arms nearly reach distal margin of mesosome. parameres slender, elongated, pst1–2 as in Figure 10d. Measurements (n = 3): TL = 1.35–1.53; HL = 0.33–0.36; HW = 0.26–0.27; PRW = 0.16–0.18; PTW = 0.26–0.28; AW = 0.34–0.40.   
 Female. Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Figure 9b; ps present on abdominal segment III. Lateral margins of proximal subgenital plate more or less parallel (Figure 10e), with wide connection to cross-piece. Vulval margin gently rounded, bulging slightly at median (Figure 10e), with 2–4 short, slender vms and 3–4 short, thorn-like vss on each side; 3–4 short, slender vos on each side of subgenital plate; distal 1 vos median to vss. Measurements (n = 5): TL = 1.58–1.74; HL = 0.36–0.39; HW = 0.28–0.29; PRW = 0.19; PTW = 0.28–0.31; AW = 0.38–0.45.   
 Etymology   
 The specific name is derived from the Spanish ‘ cañon ’ for ‘gorge’, referring to the English name for the type host and the common habitat of the host species.   
 Material examined   
 Ex Melozone fusca [as Pipilo fuscus]: Holotype ♂, Las Vacas, Coahuila, Mexico, 31 July 1958, C.A. Ely, CAE-738 (NHML). Paratypes. 2♀, same data as holotype (NHML); 1♂, 2♀, same data as holotype (PIPeR); 1♀, same locality, 5 August 1958, C.A. Ely, CAE-765 (PIPeR).
description: Published as part of Gustafsson, Daniel R. & Bush, Sarah E., 2021, Descriptions of seven new species of Brueelia Kéler 1936 (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) from North American sparrows (Aves: Passeriformes: Passerellidae), and review of host use by Brueelia vulgata, pp. 2071-2112 in Journal of Natural History 54 (33 - 34) on pages 2091-2092, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2020.1836280, http://zenodo.org/record/5029008