Hirstionyssus blanchardi (Trouessart, 1904)

Leiognathus blanchardi Trouessart 1904: 578, figs 1–2.

Liponyssus blanchardi— Hirst 1921b: 787, figs 28b, 30, 31.

Hirstionyssus blanchardi— Fonseca 1948: 296; Willmann 1952: 406; Zemskaya 1955: 358, figs 745–763; Bregetova 1956: 177, 189, figs 410, 460, 461; Evans & Till 1966: 296, fig. 74, 75; Koroleva 1977: 130, figs 3(1); Senotrusova 1987: 77, fig. 37; Mašán & Fend’a 2010: 121.

Hirstionyssus blanchardi asiaticus Senotrusova & Kapitonov 1970: only in captions to figs 1 and 2 (nomen nudum).

Echinonyssus blanchardi— Tenorio 1984: 263; Tenorio 1985: 3, figs 1–2.

Type locality: Europe, Alpine region.

Type series: MNHN. The lectotype was designated by Tenorio (1985).

Type host:Marmota marmota Linnaeus, 1758.

Host range: Marmots, including the Altai marmot, Marmota baibacina Kastschenko, 1899, and the bobak, M. bobac Müller, 1776.

Distribution: Europe and the southern part of North Asia (Senotrusova & Kapitonov 1970; Tenorio 1985; Mašán & Fend’a 2010). In Asiatic Russia, H. blanchardi has been recorded chiefly from the mountain parts of Western Siberia (Altai and Salair Mts.), where it parazitises the Altai marmots (Davydova & Nikolsky 1986). Koroleva (1977) mentioned a finding of this species in Novosibirsk Region.

Notes: A new subspecies name, H. blanchardi asiaticus Senotrusova & Kapitonov, 1970, was proposed for populations of this species inhabiting the central and eastern parts of Kazakhstan. According to Tenorio (1985), it is a nomen nudum as the new name appeared in figure captions but nowhere in the text. This subspecies name is absent from Senotrusova’s later monograph (Senotrusova 1987); possibly it means that the author rejected her own previous opinion and considered H. blanchardi as a monotypic species.