Philopterus Nitzsch 1818

• Main Authors: Gustafsson, Daniel R., Najer, Tomas, Zou, Fasheng, Bush, Sarah E.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Arthropoda; Insecta; Psocodea; Philopteridae; Philopterus; Solus; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/6304083; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6304083

Genus Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818 Philopterus Nitzsch, 1818: 288. Docophorus Nitzsch, 1818: 289 (in partim). Cypseloecus Conci, 1941: 126. Debeauxoecus Conci, 1941: 126. Docophorulus Eichler, 1944: 80. Bitrabeculus Uchida, 1948: 317. Prunellides Złotorzycka & Eichler, 1984: 219, figs 1–3. Type species Pediculus ocellatus Scopoli, 1763, ex Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation (Neumann 1906). Geographical distribution As currently circumscribed (Mey 2004), likely global apart from Antarctica, but poorly known in the Southern Hemisphere. Host associations As currently circumscribed (Mey 2004), widely distributed across hosts in the Passeriformes. A single species (Philopterus solus Tendeiro, 1962) has been described from a bucerotiform host, but Mey (2004: 200) doubted the authenticity of this record. Remarks All species described herein key to the genus Philopterus in the key of Mey (2004), based on having both trabecula and coni, an extensive hyaline margin, dorsal anterior plates that are longer than wide, and ventral carinae that are not recurved towards the preantennal nodi. However, other characters are quite variable among the species described here, and ascertaining homologous structures can be difficult, especially in the male genitalia. Moreover, one distinguishing character of Philopterus in Mey’s key is the similarity in the length of the os, pos, and mts1–3; yet, the relative lengths of these setae vary in the species treated here. The number and position of sensilla of the postantennal head also vary between species. Most likely, this variation corresponds to deep divisions between different groups of Philopterus sensu Mey (2004), some of which may ultimately be considered different genera or subgenera. Many species of Philopterus are inadequately described, with much of the description being based on measurements, and most of the illustrations being of characters of limited taxonomic value (prosternal plates, shape of trabecula, single tergopleurites with only some of the setae ...