Reticulipeurus mesopelios

Reticulipeurus mesopelios (Nitzsch [in Giebel], 1866)

(Figs 5–6, 24, 42–44, 70, 79)

Lipeurus mesopelias Nitzsch [in Giebel], 1861: 307. Nomen nudum.

Lipeurus mesopelios Nitzsch [in Giebel], 1866: 379.

Oxylipeurus mesopelios mesopelios (Giebel, 1866); Clay 1938: 174.

Oxylipeurus mesopelios (Nitzsch [in Giebel], 1866); Hopkins & Clay 1952: 258.

Reticulipeurus mesopelios; Kéler 1958: 332.

Oxylipeurus mesopelios (Nitzsch [in Giebel], 1866); Price et al. 2003: 204.

Type host. Chrysolophus pictus (Linnaeus, 1758) —golden pheasant.

Type locality. None given, but both known hosts are endemic to China, and common in captivity elsewhere. The type locality may be in Germany, from a captive bird.

Other host. Chrysolophus amherstiae (Leadbeater, 1829) —Lady Amherst’s pheasant.

Description.

Both sexes. Head slender, frons narrowly rounded (Fig. 5). Marginal carina narrow. Dorsal preantennal suture extends only slightly lateral to ads. Head chaetotaxy as in Fig. 5. Lateral margins of postantennal head more or less parallel. Thoracic and abdominal plates and chaetotaxy as in Figs 5–6. Reticulation not visible, or limited to lateral margins of tergopleurites.

Male. Antennae as in Fig. 24; tooth-like projection of scape not prominent; flagellomere I with restricted rugose area. Accessory sternal plates present on segment VIII (Fig. 79). Stylus short, spatulate (Fig. 79). Basal apodeme slender (Fig. 42). Mesosome small, distal section almost rectangular, rugose area broadening slightly laterally; antero-lateral hooks slender. Gonopore short (Fig. 44). Ventral sclerite with concave anterior margin, lateral ends expanding; with two pores submedianly and one pore laterally on each side on posterior margin. Parameres more or less straight, parameral head small; pst1–2 both near apical end. Measurements as in Table 1.

Female. Tergopleurites IX+X and XI separate (Fig. 6). Subgenital plate seemingly medianly continuous, but diffuse (Fig. 70). Vulval margin deeply and broadly concave, with 10–15 setae marginally on each side. Posterior lobes of abdomen short (Fig. 70). Subvulval plates narrowing proximally, not reaching vulval margin. Measurements as in Table 1.

Non-type material examined. Ex Chrysolophus pictus: 1♂, China, Nov. 1901, R. Meinertzhagen, 4427, NHMUK010682503 (NHML). Ex Chrysolophus amherstiae: 3♂, 12♀, Tibet [China], Apr. 1911, R. Meinertzhagen, 4428, NHMUK010682501–2 (NHML).

Remarks. The male from the type host that we have examined is the same described by Clay (1938), which was compared with the type by S. von Kéler (Clay 1938: 175). There are slight differences in the shape of the head and the mesosome between males from the two hosts but, considering the small available samples, these differences may be due to individual variation. Without more males from both hosts and females from the type host, we cannot confirm that the two populations belong to the same species. Therefore, we follow Clay (1938) in regarding them as conspecific.