Laimoloima tandani Gustafsson & Adam & Zou 2022, new species

Laimoloima tandani new species

(Figs 10–11, 14, 16–17, 20)

Type host. Psilopogon virens virens (Boddaert, 1783) —great barbet (Megalaimidae).

Type locality. Shunhuangshan, Xinning Village, Chaoyuan County, Hunan Province, China.

Diagnosis. Sharing the same position of mts1 near mts2 would suggest that Laimoloima tandani, L. ruiliensis, and L. zeylanica are more closely related to each other than to L. rafflesi. Further, the shape of the male endomere of L. tandani (Figs 15–16) is more similar to that of L. zeylanica than to that of L. ruiliensis (Figs 17–18). Laimoloima tandani can be separated from L. zeylanica by the following characters: (1) dorsal anterior plate gently rounded posteriorly in L. zeylanica, but extended posteriorly in L. tandani (Fig. 14), (2) preantennal area proportionately slightly shorter and broader in L. tandani (Fig. 14) than in L. zeylanica, (3) anterior lobes of male endomere of different shapes, and proportionately larger in L. tandani (Fig. 16) than in L. zeylanica, (4) parameres stouter in L. tandani (Figs 15–16) than in L zeylanica, (5) meso- and metasternum each with two setae on each side in L. zeylanica, but each with one seta on each side in L. tandani (Figs 10–11), (6) female tergopleurite II with two tergocentral setae on posterior margin in L. tandani (Fig. 11), but with one seta in L. zeylanica, (7) female tergopleurite VIII with one tergocentral seta in L. tandani (Fig. 11), but with two setae in L. zeylanica.

Description. Both sexes. Head rounded trapezoidal (Fig. 14), frons broad and slightly concave, lateral margins of preantennal head slightly concave. Dorsal anterior plate roughly triangular, longer than wide. Dorsal preantennal suture diffuse posterior to ads, and illustrated approximately. In both specimens examined, the dorsal preantennal suture extends posteriorly from ads; this may be an artifact of mounting but, as it is similar in both specimens, we illustrated it as described. Marginal carina broad. Head chaetotaxy as in Fig. 14; chaetotaxy of antennae as in Figs 14a–b. Dorsal postantennal suture present, widened around aperture of pns. Gular plate with extensive rugose area centrally. Thoracic and abdominal segments and chaetotaxy as in Figs 10–11; sternal plates lightly sclerotised, and not illustrated.

Male. Subgenital plate lightly sclerotised, and not illustrated. Tergopleurites III–VI each with three tergocentral setae on each side; tergopleurite VII with two tergocentral setae on each side. Anterior end of basal apodeme diffuse, and not illustrated; distal section with more or less parallel lateral margins, but bulging lateral margins distally (Fig. 16). Endomere longer than wide, with prominent rounded antero-lateral lobes ventrally and pointed postero-lateral lobes. Endomeral chaetotaxy as in Figs 16–17. Distal endomere asymmetrical in one examined specimen. Parameres short and broad; pst1–2 as in Fig. 17.

Female. Subgenital plate weakly sclerotised, and here illustrated approximately (Fig. 20). Vulval margin with 14–19 long, slender setae marginally and 9–11 long, stout setae submarginally on each side; 1–2 macroseta associated with subgenital plate on each side, and 5–7 short, slender setae on each side in area between subgenital plate and vulval margin. Subvulval plates diffuse distally in one examined female, and illustrated approximately.

Type material. Ex Psilopogon virens virens: Holotype ♂, Shunhuangshan, Xinning Village, elev. 814–855 m, Chaoyuan County, Hunan Province, China, 31 Aug. 2018, X. Chu & L. Lei, bird J3634, GD-PHTH-00139 (IZGAS). Paratype: 1♀, same data as holotype, GD-PHTH-00140 (IZGAS).

Etymology. The species epithet honours the late Bhup Kishore Tandan (formerly at the University of Lucknow, India). In our opinion, Tandan was one of the greatest phthirapterists of the 20 th century, and his published illustrations and descriptions of, especially, Asian chewing louse taxa should be considered a benchmark to strive toward by all chewing louse taxonomists.

Remarks. Since the holotype has one antenna medianly distorted and the other with flagellomeres I–III fused (Fig. 14), we provide illustrations of the female antennae (Figs 14a–b) to depict the chaetotaxy of the antennae of B. tandani accurately, which is indistinguishable from that of males of B. ruiliensis; this suggests that there may be no differences between the antennal chaetotaxy of males of the two species. Also, some head and abdominal setae are broken on both sides of the holotype, hence they are illustrated approximately, based on the length of the same seta in the female.