Another puzzle piece in the systematics of the chewing louse genus Myrsidea, with a description of a new genus Apomyrsidea

Kolencik, Stanislav; Sychra, Oldřich; Allen, Julie M.

doi:10.5852/ejt.2021.748.1339

Cited by 880 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 27 publications

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“…As suggested in Kolencik et al (2017), morphological description of a new species in combination with molecular phylogenetic data can help determine the value of specific characters in defining monophyletic groups. This approach was adapted by Kolencik et al (2021), who found that three species in the Myrsidea complex with the sternal asters were sufficiently unique in morphology and genetics to treat them as members of a new genus, Apomyrsidea Kolencik & Sychra & Allen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetics and host‐specificity of the mega‐diverse louse genus Myrsidea (Amblycera: Menoponidae)

Kolencik

Cacioppo²,

Johnson

et al. 2022

Systematic Entomology

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Myrsidea Waterston is the most diverse genus of chewing lice, primarily parasitizing perching birds (Passeriformes), which is the most speciose avian order. Myrsidea also parasitize several hosts from non-passerine groups, including toucans, barbets, woodpeckers (Piciformes) and hummingbirds (Apodiformes). To examine host specificity, host switching and generic limits, we reconstructed a phylogeny of the avian feather louse genus Myrsidea using DNA sequence data from two fragments of the mitochondrial COI gene and a fragment of the nuclear EF-1α gene for 152 Myrsidea specimens collected from 23 avian host families. Unlike other highly diverse louse genera, only a small proportion of Myrsidea species parasitize more than one host species. We found that host family has significant phylogenetic signal on the Myrsidea phylogeny. These results suggest that Myrsidea is generally highly host-specific, with some exceptions where host switching is important. We found that there are two separate groups of Myrsidea that parasitize toucans, and that both are nested within Myrsidea found on perching birds, suggesting that these toucan ectoparasites may have arisen from two independent host switching events. Lastly, representatives of the genus Ramphasticola Carriker, which was originally described as a distinct genus due to a suite of morphologically unique characters, falls in with a strongly supported clade of Myrsidea parasitizing Ramphastos toucans, and therefore we definitively place Ramphasticola as a synonym of Myrsidea.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetics and host‐specificity of the mega‐diverse louse genus Myrsidea (Amblycera: Menoponidae)

Kolencik

Cacioppo²,

Johnson

et al. 2022

Systematic Entomology

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Understanding the life history characteristics of bird lice: Amblycera versus Ischnocera

Kolencik,

Loaiza‐Muñoz,

Londono

et al. 2024

Ecological Entomology

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Permanent ectoparasites, adapted to living on their hosts, face limited survival abilities and food availability off the host body. We investigated the variance in survivability and the diet type preferences between bird lice from two different groups — Amblycera and Ischnocera. While phylogenetic or morphological data can easily separate these groups, the difference in their life history characteristics is poorly understood. We observed that ischnoceran lice showed significantly longer survival than amblyceran lice (p < 0.05) off the host body and experimental supplementing with host feathers further increased the survival time of ischnoceran lice. To examine the preference and possible effects of the diet, we evaluated the presence of feathers, blood or both in 4587 chewing lice (1418 amblyceran and 3169 ischnoceran lice). Blood was found in 36% of amblyceran lice from 14 genera, and no blood was found in ischnoceran lice, pointing to different feeding habits between these two groups. Haematophagy is recorded here for the first time for the genera Ardeiphilus, Gruimenopon, Kurodaia, Machaerilaemus and Meromenopon. Furthermore, we evaluated hypopharynx reduction as a potential predisposition for blood‐feeding in bird lice. Amblyceran lice may be more sensitive to changes in microhabitat conditions than ischnoceran lice, and in some cases, many species of Amblycera may also require an additional dietary source beyond bird feathers for their survival.

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Insecta filtered data for inventories completeness analysis

2022

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Another puzzle piece in the systematics of the chewing louse genus Myrsidea, with a description of a new genus Apomyrsidea

Cited by 880 publications

References 27 publications

Phylogenetics and host‐specificity of the mega‐diverse louse genus Myrsidea (Amblycera: Menoponidae)

Phylogenetics and host‐specificity of the mega‐diverse louse genus Myrsidea (Amblycera: Menoponidae)

Understanding the life history characteristics of bird lice: Amblycera versus Ischnocera

Insecta filtered data for inventories completeness analysis

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