Philopteroides cucphuongensis Mey 2004
Creators: name: Gustafsson, Daniel R.
name: Najer, Tomas
name: Zou, Fasheng
name: Bush, Sarah E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Psocodea
Philopteridae
Philopteroides
Philopteroides cucphuongensis

description: Philopteroides cucphuongensis Mey, 2004
Figs 106–111
Type host
Pycnonotus finlaysoni eous Riley, 1940 – stripe-throated bubul.
Other hosts
Pycnonotus blanfordi conradi (Finsch in Finsch & Conrad, 1873) – streak-eared bulbul new host record. Brachypodius melanoleucos (Eyton, 1839) – black-and-white bulbul [Najer et al. 2021]; Pycnonotus xanthorrhous xanthorrhous Anderson, 1869 – brown-breasted bulbul [Najer et al. 2021].
Material examined
Non-type material (ex Pycnonotus blanfordi conradi) THAILAND • 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; Lampang Province, Pang La; 5 Feb 1953; R.E. Elbel and H.G. Deignan leg.; RE-2243, RT-B-22711; BPBM.
Type locality
Cuc Phuong National park, Vietnam.
Description
Both sexes Head shape as in Fig. 108, lateral margins of preantennal area concave, frons deeply concave, with central sclerotization divided medianly. Dorsal anterior plate with deeply concave anterior margin, convex lateral margins in anterior end, and slender posterior elongation that reaches posterior to mandibles.
Ventral anterior plate crescent shaped, with deeply concave anterior margin. Lobes of ventral carinae transparent and hard to see in many specimens. Head chaetotaxy as in Fig. 108. Thoracic and abdominal segments as in Figs 106–107. Tergopleurites III–VIII with translucent fenestrae around spiracular opening; plates only barely reaching ventral surface. Base pigmentation pale brown, darker on dorsal and ventral anterior plates, preantennal nodi, temporal carinae, and proepimera, very dark brown on marginal carinae anterior to lobes of ventral carinae.
Male
Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Fig. 106. Metanotum with 7–9 mms on each side. Sternal plate II very small and may be divided medianly; sternal plate III with accessory lateral plate; sternites IV–VI wide, with no separation between central and lateral plates. Subgenital plate with large, oblong lateral plate on segment IX+X. Basal apodeme long, widening gently in distal end (Fig. 109). Dorsal thickening of mesosome slender, mitre-shaped. Gonopore wide, inverse U-shaped, with small triangular process on anterior margin and median thickening (Fig. 110). Distal processes of mesosome broad with rugose median margins. Parameres simple; 2 sensilla on lateral margin of basal paramere, and 2 sensilla on lateral margin in distal half of each paramere. Measurements as in Tables 1–2.
Female
Thoracic and abdominal chaetotaxy as in Fig. 107. Metanotum with 9–11 setae on each side. Sternal plate II very small, divided medianly or absent; sternal plates III–V with accessory lateral plates; sternal plate VI wide, with narrow connection to accessory lateral plate. Lateral ends of subgenital plate bending posteriorly, median section with distinct bulge. Vulval margin more or less straight with a sublateral bulge on each side (Fig. 111), with 5 short and 3 long setae on each side. Subvulval plates broad, with blunt distal ends. Measurements as in Tables 1–2.
Remarks
No type specimens of Po. cucphuongensis or specimens from the type host of this species were examined. The specimens examined are largely indistinguishable from the original description of Po. cucphoungensis, with the following exceptions: female abdominal segment VII with 3 ps on each side in our specimens (Fig. 107), but with 2 ps on each side in specimens from type host; mts1 significantly shorter than mts 3 in our specimens (Fig. 108), but of similar length in specimens from type host; male central sternal plate III clearly separated from accessory lateral sternal plates in our specimens (Fig. 106), but closer together and in some cases fused in specimens from the type host. The preantennal head is also slightly narrower in specimens from the type host than in our specimens (Fig. 108), but the shape is similar. Measurements are largely overlapping between specimens from the two hosts (Table 1).
We consider these differences to be insufficient to separate these specimens from Po. cucphuongensis, and consider Pycnonotus blanfordi conradi to be a new host record for this species; moreover, this is the first record of Po. cucphuongensis from Thailand. However, the original illustrations of Po. cucphuongensis are only partial, and e.g., the male genitalia are illustrated with dorsal and ventral features mixed. It is possible that more detailed comparisons of the male genitalia and other characters will necessitate the separation of these specimens as a separate species. We here provide a description and illustrations of our specimens, to complement those of Mey (2004).
description: Published as part of Gustafsson, Daniel R., Najer, Tomas, Zou, Fasheng & Bush, Sarah E., 2022, The ischnoceran chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) of bulbuls (Aves: Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae), with descriptions of 18 new species, pp. 1-88 in European Journal of Taxonomy 800 on pages 59-62, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.800.1683, http://zenodo.org/record/6358666