International Journal of Entomology and Nematology

IJEN
Vol. 4(2), pp. 093-107, December, 2018. © www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 2326-7262

Research Article

New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera,

Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis
(Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
1Sindhu Bughio, 2Saima Naz*, 3Nadir Ali Birmani
1,2,3Advanced Parasitology Research Laboratory (APRL), Department of Zoology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro-76080.
Sindh, Pakistan.

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera) are obligatory parasites of birds and mammals. Little attention has
been given to chewing lice species in Pakistan; hence this is a contribution towards the chewing
lice fauna of the country. In the present work, two new species of chewing lice were recovered
from common and native bird Acridotheres tristis (Common Myna) (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) in
Sindh, Pakistan. During the examination of 80 birds of A. tristis, 65 birds produced two new
species of chewing lice, belonging to genus Myrsidea (Amblycera: Menoponidae) and genus
Sturnidoecus (Ischnocera: Philopteridae); however, all birds were prevalent to chewing lice of
genus Brueelia and Menacanthus. The new species are described in detail, illustrated and
compared with their closest allied species found on birds of family Sturnidae.

Key words: Myrsidea, Sturnidoecus new species, common myna, Pakistan.

INTRODUCTION

Pakistan has a tremendous variety of birds, indicating a
potential for a large diversity of chewing lice (Phthiraptera:
Amblycera and Ischnocera). Despite the fact, data
concerned with chewing lice fauna of Pakistan is scarce
and incomplete (Ansari, 1955a-b; 1956a-b; 1968;
Lakshminarayana, 1979; Sychra et al., 2006; Naz et al.,
2009; 2010; 2011; 2012; 2016; Naz and Rizvi, 2018).
There are more than 391 species of passerine birds in
Pakistan, including nine species of mynas and starlings
(Passeriformes: Sturnidae). Of these only three species of
myna and two species of starlings are resident in Sindh
(Salim Ali and Ripley, 1989; Robert, 1991).
Chewing lice of myna birds in Pakistan have not previously
been studied taxonomically, apart from Ansari (1957;
1968), who contributed to our knowledge of the genus
Sturnidoecus (Philopteridae). There are six species of
chewing lice known to parasitize common myna around
the world, including two species of the genus Myrsidea,
M. invadens (Kellogg and Chapman, 1902) and M. chilchil
Ansari, 1951 which he described with M. lyallpurensis, and
two species of the genus Sturnidoecus, S. bannoo Ansari,
New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
1955a,b and S. capensis (Giebel, 1874), which was
described from A. tristis by Ansari (1968) with its synonym
S. fragilis have yet been recovered (Tandan and Clay,
1971; Price et al., 2003; Price and Dalgleish, 2006;
Gustafsson and Bush, 2017).
During the examination of common myna in the Sindh
region, two new species of the genus Myrsidea and genus
Sturnidoecus were collected. The previously known
species of chewing lice from common myna were not
reported from Sindh province but only from the Punjab
(Ansari, 1951; 1955a-b; 1968). Many of the samples of
chewing lice recovered during the present study, that are
yet to be identified may represent previously known
species, all of which would constitute new records for
Pakistan.
*Corresponding Author: Saima Naz, Advanced
Parasitology Research Laboratory (APRL),
Department of Zoology, University of Sindh,
Jamshoro-76080. Sindh, Pakistan. Email:
dr.symanaz@outlook.com
Bughio et al. 094
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Live common mynas were trapped from different localities
of Sindh, Pakistan, brought to the Advanced Parasitology
Research (APR) Laboratory at Department of Zoology,
University of Sindh, Jamshoro during 2015-2017. After
extraction of lice from their feathers, these birds were
released. In total, 80 birds of common myna were
examined for chewing lice by using a fumigation chamber,
which was adapted from Lakshinarayana (1980) and
Clayton and Drown (2001), modified with plastic jars
contained plastic bags with a piece of chlorofarm filled
cotton in it It gave as maximum number of lice from the
whole body except head. The lice from head feathers were
collected by hand-picking method using soft brush and fine
forcep, while the bek of the bird was tied with squash tape
to prevent any damage. The lice were permanently
mounted in Canada balsam following the method of Palma
(1978) and Naz (2008). The male genitalia were dissected
out under stereo microscope using fine insect pins and
were mounted in Canada balsam with the same method
by Palma (1978). Drawings were made with Olympus
drawing tube attachment and photographs were taken
through Nikon microscopic digital camera (P7000).
Measurements were taken in millimeters (mm) by using
ocular micrometer (Table 1-2). The terminology used for
the chaetotaxy and identification of chewing lice species
was followed in Clay (1969) and Marshall (2003) for
amblyceran species and Clay (1951; 1975) and Smith
(2001). The holotype and paratypes were deposited in the
Museum Collection of APR Laboratory, Department of
Zoology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro-Pakistan.
RESULTS
In the present study of chewing lice from mynas of
Pakistan, total 80 birds of common myna were examined
in which 65 birds were found infested with two new
species, Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. and Sturnidoecus
tristisae sp.n. however other specimens of genus Brueelia
and Menacanthus were also recovered (Table 3) ; all
examined birds were infested with 100% prevalence for
overall specimens of chewing lice.
Myrsidea ahmedalii species novum (Figure 1-2, 5-17;
Table 1)
Phthiraptera: Amblycera: Menoponidae
Head:
Smoothly rounded anterior, broadly convex; preocular
notch well defined; antennal grooves moderately shallow
but completely hide the antennae; tentorial bridge
transverse; temples short and expanded, slightly quadrate
in shape; DHS (dorsal head seta) 8 much shorter than
DHS 9, DHS 10 slightly shorter than DHS 11, DHS 14 short
microseta, DHS 15 normal, fine longer than DHS 16;
New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
occipital DHS 21 much longer than DHS 22, DHS 23
absent; temporal DHS 24, DHS 25 microsetae, DHS 26,
27 fine, normal fine setae, distant alveoli; DHS 28 short,
DHS 29 longer than DHS 30; maxillary palp short (Figure
5); gular plate (Figure 6) highly sclerotized, with medial
weak patches, very long macrosetae, along with 4 lateral
gular setae present; hypopharynx (Figure 7) very well
developed; antennae (Figure 8) very short, usually
invisible; ocular comb developed, flat; sub ocular setae
present.
Thorax:
Pronotal anterior seta present in female and absents in
male; lateral three stout thorn like setae present,
posterolateral to posterior marginal setae six in number,
seta 1 macroseta seta 2 short and spinous, seta 3 and 6
normal at posterior margin; prosternal plate (Figure 9) very
well developed, with evident anterior and lateral margins,
anterior setae present on the plate; posterior margin thick
sclerotized, blunt; mesonotum evident, fused with
mesopleurum, episternum and mesosternum to form a ring
around mesothorax (Figure 10); anterior mesonotal setae
present; metanotum not enlarged; posterior slightly
convex, bearing 10-12 lateroposterior spiniform marginal
setae; metasternal plate (Figure 11) well developed, large,
with 2 median and 4 lateral setae; femur III with very thin
and small brush of microsetae on its venter.
Male Abdomen:
Relatively narrow and oval, all tergites similar, undivided,
equal in length; tergite I bears 7 pairs of setae, tergite II: 9
pairs, tergite III: 10 pairs, tergite IV: 8 pairs, tergite V: 8
pairs, tergite VI: 5 pairs, VII: 5, tergite VIII: 5 pairs of setae;
post spiracle setae fine normal on tergite II-III, short on
tergite IV and V, long on tergite VI-VIII; sternite II large,
expanded, bearing 3+1 fine stout, thick, robust setae at
lateral corners (all male specimens with symmetrical
arrangement of lateral stout setae), with 12 alternatively
long and short fine intermediate to median posterior
marginal setae; sternite III-VI bearing thin setal brushes
(Figure 12).
Female Abdomen:
Wide and oblong (Figure 13), tergite depressed at median,
tergite I complete, tergite II-IV intermediate to median
deeply convex, tergites V-VIII similar, equal; tergite I-VIII
bear 11 pairs of setae, 12 pairs of setae; , 10 pairs of setae,
8 pairs of setae; 11 pairs of setae, 9 pairs of setae, 7 pairs
of setae and 4 pairs of setae respectively; XI- X fused;
post spiracle setae fine normal on tergite III-IV, short on
tergite V-VI, very long on tergite VII and VIII; sternite II:
large, expanded, bearing 4+1 stout, thick, robust setae at
lateral corners (one specimen showed asymmetrical
arrangement of 4+1, 1+3) (Figure 14a-b), with 12 long and
short, alternatively fine, intermediate to median posterior
marginal setae; sternite III-VI bearing thin setal brushes.

Male Terminalia:
Broadly convex; sub genital plate broad flat broadly
convex at posterior, bearing 17-18 normal median to
posterior and posterolateral setae (Figure 15a-b).
Female Terminalia:
Peculiar in chaetotaxy; sub genital plate with serrated
posterior margin, bearing 28 median to posterior and
posterolateral setae, scattered; vulva thick and broad
fringed with 12-14 oblique bunches of thin setae; dorsal
anal fringe bearing 12 fine setae (Figure 16a-b).
Male Genitalia:
Expanded upward to abdominal segment (Figure 17);
basal apodeme long, narrow, spatula like; parameres
short, tapering posteriorly and curved outward; endomeral
plate slightly convex; mesomeral sclerites developed;
genital sac weakly developed, genital sac sclerite
elongated, cylindrical, anteriorly broader with wavy margin,
rounded posteriorly with laterally arms hooks like and
posterior arm membranous.
Material Examined
Holotype 1♂, on Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus);
Paratypes: 2♂, 7♀, on Acridotheres tristis (L.); Sindh
province, Pakistan; 20-vi-2016; leg. Bughio, S.; deposited
in Museum collection of APR Lab., Department of Zoology,
University of Sindh, Jamshoro.
Etymology
The epithet of the present species of the genus Myrsidea
has been given after first author’s father, Late Dr. Ahmed
Ali (1960—2016) in memorizing his thankless efforts and
support to the author to go through Pakistani chewing lice
and his encouragement.
Sturnidoecus tristisae species novum (Figure 3-4, 18-
24; Table 2)
Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae
Head:
Anteriorly narrow, projected, with thick hyaline margin,
anteriorly concave, gradually become wider at preantennal
region (Figure 18); premarginal carina moderately
sclerotized; dorsal anterior plate anteriorly deeply
concave, lateraly slightly convex (Figure 19); pulvinus
divided into two lateral lobes ventral carina erupted
medially; trabecula absent; conus equal to scape of
antennae, antennae monomorphic; typically, filiform
pedical and flagellomers narrow; gular plate deltoid
shaped (Figure 20), short, medially sclerotized; temples
broadly rounded, marginal temporal carina thin, forming
more or less evenly band on the temples; marginal
temporal two setae present.
New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
Int. J. Entomol. Nematol. 095
Thorax:
Anterior setae absent; prothoracic leetro-posterior setae
one pair, arranging 1+1 normal; rhombic sclerite very
small, weekly sclerotized; posterior region smoothly
convex; pterothoax lateral margins highly divergent,
laterally extended corners; trichoid, thick, thorn like seta
present at lateral edges. posterior margin slightly convex;
bearing evenly arranged 22-24 long, fine marginal setae;
pteronotum undivided, proepimeron expanded, unfused,
mesofurcal pit absent; meso-metasternal plate present;
second sternal plate absent; ventral meso-metasternal
marginal setae present; prothoracic, mesothoracic and
metathoracic legs sterno-coxal in articulation.
Male Abdomen:
Laterly highly convex; six pairs of spiracles present; atria
of spiracles small; median to submedian setal row present
on tergite II; tergite II not deeply embedded within tergite
III; posterior marginal setae on tergite II:14,III-IV:15-16,
V:18, VII: 12, VIII: 6, XI: 9; 2 pair of letero-posterior
marginal setea on III-IX; sternites bearing one pair of
marginal setae; sub genital plate cone shape, without
setae (Figure 21).
Female Abdomen:
Broad at middle narrow at anterior and posteriorly oval; six
pairs of spiracles present with small atria; median to
submedian setal row present on tergite II; Tergite II not
deeply embedded within tergite III; posterior marginal
setae on tergite II: 17, III:16,IV-VI:20, VII: 17, VIII: 16, XI: 9
and 2 pair of letero-posterior marginal setea on III-IX;
sternites bearing one pair of marginal setae (Figure 22).
Female Terminalia:
Posterior margin slightly concave; bearing 2 pair of very
short microsetae; tergite IX and X completely fused broad
bearing 7 pair of latero-posterior long setae; sub genital
plate (Figure 23) roughly triangular; laterally five thorn like
seta present; vulva bears 18 marginal to sub marginal
short thorn like setae.
Male Genitalia:
Basal apodeme anteriorly broad and wide, posteriorly
slightly narrow, having thick struts; endomeral plate wide,
expanded laterally, covering half length of mesosomal
plate; mesosomal plate relatively elongated as compared
to the other species of the pastoris-group, narrow medially
and widened anteriorly with slightly depressed anterior
margin and gradually narrow towards posterior, 2 pairs of
small spinous stout setae at lateral margins of mesosome
present and 3 pairs of peg like microsetae present on
median mesomeral complex in oblique lines; parameres
elongated, curved invardly, smoothly tapered posteriorly in
to pointed ends furnihed with a micropit and a microsetae
at subterminal position (Figure 24).
Bughio et al. 096
Material Examined
Holotype 1♂, on Acridotheres tristis (L.); Paratypes 5♂,
7♀, on Acridotheres tristis (L.); Sindh Province, Pakistan;
14-iii-2017; leg. Bughio, S.; deposited in Museum
collection of APR Lab., Department of Zoology, University
of Sindh, Jamshoro.
Etymology
The epithet name of present new species of genus
Sturnidoecus is given on its type host species Acridotheres
tristis from which it was recovered during present study.
DISCUSSION
The species Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n.is closely related to
M. invadens (Kellogg and Chapman, 1902) and M. chilchil
Ansari, 1951 in having general body features, but it is
different from the same species in having gular plate highly
sclerotized with medially week patches; abdominal sternite
II consist of thick, stout, lateral spines in 3+1 and 4+1
arrangement at lateral corner of abdominal sternite II in
male; pronotum bears three stout thorn like lateral setae,
posteriorly 3, 6 normal setae; metanotum bears 10-12
lateroposterior marginal setae; post spiracle setae in
female fine normal on tergite III-IV, short on tergite V-VI,
very long on tergite VII and VIII; in male post spiracle setae
fine normal on tergite II-III, short on tergite IV and V, long
on tergite VI-VIII; basal apodeme long, narrow, spatula
like; slightly convex; genital sac weakly developed; genital
sac sclerite developed; elongated, cylindrical; anteriorly
broader wavy margin; rounded posteriorly with laterally
hooks like projections in M. ahmedalii sp.n; whereas in M.
invadens gular plate medially sclerotized; margin of
pronotum with one short two long setae on each side;
metanotum with 4 marginal setae, 3 short and one very
long; all abdominal tergites of both male and female equal
and undivided, without anterior setae; post spiracle setae
in both male and female extremely long on tergites II,IV
and VIII, very long on tergite I and VII, long on III ,V and
VI; abdominal sternite II with thorn like setae in 2+1, 1+2
arrangement in both male and female individuals of M.
invadens.
The present species is also clearly dissimilar with M.
chilchil in general body shape and chaetotaxy which is
thicker in later species than the present new species
(Ansari, 1951). In M. chilchil Ansari, 1951 the differences
are found in hypopharynx slightly reduced, but in M.
ahmedalii it is very well developed; in the male genitalia
the ventral arm with pointed apex in M. chilchil whereas
the ventral arm with rounded apex in M. ahmedalii; in M.
chilchil metanotum enlarged with 5-6 leteroposterior
marginal setae while in M. ahmedalii metanotum is not
enlarged, however containing 10-12 lateroposterior
New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
marginal setae. All abdominal tergites are equal in both
male female; post spiracle setae short and long alternate
on tergite II-VI and long on tergite VII and VIII in both
genders. The differences in morphometery are given in
Table 1.
The species Sturnidoecus tristisae sp.n. fall in the S.
pastoris-complex group (Gustafsson and Bush, 2017) and
was closely related to S. borobodur (Mey, 1989), S.
peguensis (Mey, 1989), S. bannoo Ansari, 1955 and S.
capensis (Giebel, 1874) in having general body features,
but it is evidently different from these species in having
preantennal region anteriorly narrow, projected, with thick
hyaline margin, anteriorly concave, gradually become
wider at preantennal region, premarginal carina
moderately sclerotized, dorsal anterior plate anteriorly
deeply concave, laterally slightly convex; gular plate short
and cordate shaped; female subgenital plate roughly
triangular with 5 microsetae on lateral margins, vulva
bearing 18 marginal to submarginal very short microsetae;
male abdomen highly convex, posterior marginal setae on
tergite also variable in number and attachment; endomeral
plate elongated along the half length of parameres;
morphometery is compared in Table 2.
In S. bannoo the differences with the present species
appeared in preantennal region broad, hyaline margin
thick and flat, gular plate tomb shape, abdomen generally
oval to oblong in shape; female terminalia slightly convex
laterally, bearing 3 pairs of setae, sub genital plate funnel
shaped laterally with one pair of short setae, vulva bears
5 pairs of marginal setae; endomeral plate elongated
along with equal length of parameres.
S. borobodur differentiates with the present species in
anteriorly more narrow, projected with thick hyaline
margin, anteriorly slightly concave; premarginal carina
highly sclerotized; dorsal anterior plate concave, latterly
rectangular in shape; gular plate short, tomb shaped;
abdomen slightly convex; female terminalia with posterior
margin highly convex, bearing one pair of fine setae and
one pair of microsetae, vulva bearing 23 marginal to
submarginal short microsetae; sub genital plate anteriorly
broad posteriorly pointed, bearing 6 microsetae on lateral
margins; male subgenital plate pear shaped; basal
apodeme broader anteriorly and narrower posteriorly;
endomeral plate elongated approximately equal length of
parameres.
The present species of genus Sturnidoecus differs with S.
peguensis in anterior margin of head narrow, projected
with thick hyaline margin, anteriorly slightly concave;
premarginal carina highly sclerotized; dorsal anterior plate
deeply concave laterally and rectangular in shape; gular
plate short, irregularly cordate shaped; male subgenital
plate half tooth-shaped; female terminalia bears two pairs
of very short microsetae at posterior margin and 7 pairs of
long setae at lateroposterior margins; subgenital plate
roughly triangular, laterally bearing 5 microsetae; vulva

bearing 21 marginal to submarginal short microsetae;
basal apodeme broad; endomeral plate elongated, in
equal length of parameres. Mynas are most frequent
resident birds in Sindh, Pakistan; its population is wide
spread over hilly areas to plans of Indus (Mahabal, 1991;
Choudhry, 1998). Presently it is first study of chewing lice
on Myna in Sindh region. During present investigation 80
birds Acridotheres tristis were examined from Hyderabad
Sindh. In the present work Mynah birds have been
observed to be infested by four genera of two families:
Menoponidae (Suborder: Amblycera) and Philopteridae
(Suborder: Ischnocera). These genera include Brueelia
Kѐler, 1936, Menacanthus Neumann, 1912, Myrsidea
Waterston, 1915 and Sturnidoecus Eichler, 1944.
Menacanthus is represented by only one species, i.e. M.
eurysternus (Burmeister, 1938), Myrsidea is reported by
only one species i.e., M. invadens and genus Sturnidoecus
is reported previously by two species including S. bannoo
Ansari, 1951 and S. capensis (Giebel, 1874), however it
has been observed that the, chewing lice of this bird have
not been studied so far, except that Aslam et. al. (2015)
have reported a Myrsidea species which they misidentified
as M. invadens but it is not evident in their work and the
microphotograph is also not describing the same species
evidently. The clear identifying character in M. invadens is
having dark lateral bands in abdomen in both genders as
seen in Kellogg and Chapman (1902) and Eduardo and
Villa (2011).
CONCLUSION
This is the first study of taxonomy of chewing lice from
mynas in Sindh region; there is no significant work has
been done from any of bird species of Family Sturnidae,
except that Ansari (1968) has reported from Pakistan but
only from Punjab province (Lyallpur, now known as
Faisalabad). He published data on the genus Sturnidoecus
but only one species of Myrsidea from common myna,
which he named as M. lyallpurensis, that species was later
synonymized with M. chilchil by Price et al. (2003). In the
present both new species were compared with their closed
allies on the basis of important morphological characters
mainly including chaetotaxy, male and female terminalia,
male genitalia and morphometery, which evidently
separate the two species from previously known species
of Myrsidea and Sturnidoecus found on mynas, hence
described as M. ahmedalii sp.n. and S. tristisae sp.n. It is
the first record of myna chewing lice from this region and
making new locality records for both species of chewing
lice on common mynas, A. tristis from Sindh province,
Pakistan.
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Accepted 7 December 2018
Citation: Bughio S, Naz S, Birmani NA (2018). New
Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera,
Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis
(Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan. International
Journal of Entomology and Nematology, 4(2): 093-107.
Copyright: © 2018 Bughio et al. This is an open-access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are cited.
 Int. J. Entomol. Nematol. 099

APPENDIX

Table 1. Comparative morphometery of Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. with closely related species found on common myna.
All measurements are in millimeters (mm).
Myrsidea ahmedalii Myrsidea invadens (Kellogg & Myrsidea chilchil
Body Parts sp.n. Chapman, 1902) Ansari, 1947
♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀
Total length 1.55 1.97 1.195 1.753 1.404 1.73
Head length 0.31 0.36 0.301 0.32 0.298 0.346
Preocular width 0.16 0.175 - - - -
Temporal width 0.25 0.255 0.430 0.57 0.461 0.5
Prothorax length 0.16 0.21 - - 0.192 0.192
Prothorax width 0.31 0.35 0.234 0.301 0.317 0.346
Metathorax length 0.2 0.25 - - 0.241 0.288
Metathorax width 0.405 0.525 0.293 0.436 0.481 0.558
Abdominal length 0.9 1.15 - - 0.673 0.904
Genitalia length 0.512 - 0.330 - - -
Genitalia width 0.02 - - - - -
Head Index 0.806 0.708 1.428 1.78 1.546 1.44

Table 2. Comparative morphometery of Sturnidoecus tristisae sp.n. with closely related species found on other species
of myna. All measurements are in millimeters (mm).
Sturnidoecus Sturnidoecus Sturnidoecus Sturnidoecus
Sturnidoecus tristisae sp.n. borobodur (Mey, peguensis (Mey, bannoo Ansari, capensis
Body Parts
1989) 1989) 1955 (Giebel, 1778)
♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀ ♂ ♀
1.66 3.777 1.525- 1.96-
Total length 1.56 1.86-1.93 1.42-1.47 1.84 1.663 2.162
(1.61-1.69) (2.22-5.33) 1.625 2.017
0.555 0.602 0.473- 0.519-
Head length 0.56 0.59-0.61 0.53-0.54 0.56 0.508 0.571
(0.556-0.565) (0.582-0.622) 0.497 0.571
Preantennal 0.315 0.362
- - - - - - - -
width (0.30-0.33) 0.333-0.391)
Temporal 0.555 0.56 0.487- 0.546-
0.52 0.57-0.58 0.51-0.52 0.56 0.513 0.553
width (0.5-0.56) (0.52-0.6) 0.523 0.57
Prothorax 0.1315 0.153 0.153- 0.144-
- - - - 0.144 0.144
length (0.13-0.133) (0.13-0.177) 0.156 0.164
Prothorax 0.315 0.323 0.262- 0.311-
0.33 0.33-0.35 0.29-0.30 0.34 0.292 0.318
width (0.30-0.33) (0.313-0.333) 0.318 0.399
Pterothorax 0.16 0.211 0.158- 0.169-
- - - - 0.144 0.20
length (0.15-0.17) (0.2-0.222) 0.169 0.189
Pterothorax 0.31 0.538 0.416- 0.503-
0.49 0.51-0.52 0.44-0.47 0.51 0.457 0.497
width (0.25-0.43) (0.521-0.555) 0.477 0.543
Abdominal 0.86 1.214 0.743- 1.113-
- - - - 0.872 1.251
length (0.84-0.88) (1.146-1.288) 0.811 1.123
Genitalia 0.41
- - - - - - - - -
length (0.4-0.42)
1.03- 0.99-
Head Index 1.005 0.935 1.08 1.02 1.04 1.0 1.00 0.968
1.05 1.05

Table 3. Over-all abundance of chewing lice species collected from common myna A. tristis, during the present work
Chewing lice species Abundance of chewing lice Number of birds infested with each species
Brueelia sp. 1 146 40
Brueelia sp. 2 263 65
Brueelia chayanh 193 76
Menacanthus eurysternus 210 80
Myrsidea ahmedalii 44 35
Sturnidoecus tristisae 56 30
Sturnidoecus species 14 08
New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
Bughio et al. 100

FIGURES

Legends of the Illustrations:

Figure 1. Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. Male at 10×10.
Figure 2. Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. Female at 10×10.
Figure 3. Sturnidoecus tristisae sp.n. Male at 10×10.
Figure 4. Sturnidoecus tristisae sp.n. Female at 10×10.
Figure 5-11. Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. 5. Maxillary palp; 6. Gular plate; 7. Hypopharynx; 8. Antenna; 9. Prosternal plate;
10. Mesosternal plate; 11. Metasternal plate.
Figure 12-14. Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. 12. Male abdomen dorsum; 13. Female abdomen dorsum showing shape and
arrangement of tergites and their setae; 14. Sternite II with lateral thorn like setae in male abdomen, a. left, b. right
showing asymmetry in their number and position.
Figure 15-16. Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. 15. Male terminalia a. dorsum, b. ventrum; 16. Female terminalia a. dorsum, b.
ventrum.
Figure 17. Myrsidea ahmedalii sp.n. Male genitalia complete armature.
Figure 18-22. Sturnidoecus tristisae sp.n. 18. Preantennal region of head; 19. Head dorsal plate; 20. Gular plate; 21.
Male abdomen ventrum; 22. Female abdomen ventrum.
Figure 23-24. Sturnidoecus tristisae sp.n. 23. Female terminalia ventrum; 24. Male genitalia a. complete armature, b.
mesomere enlarged. c. paramere.

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New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
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New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
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New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
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New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan
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New Species of Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) of Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) from Pakistan