Brueelia longiabdominalis Mey 2017

Neosittiella longiabdominalis Mey, 2017

Neosittiella longiabdominalis Mey, 2017: 151, fig. 76, pl. XII: figs 4–5.

Brueelia longiabdominalis (Mey, 2017). New combination.

Type host: Daphoenositta chrysoptera pileata (Gould, 1838) —Varied sittella.

Type locality: Bang Bang Waterhole, Flinders River, North Queensland, Australia.

Other hosts. Daphoenositta chrysoptera leucoptera (Gould, 1840) and Daphoenositta chrysoptera (Latham, 1802) ssp. (Mey 2017: 151).

Remarks. Eichler (1949) described Guimaraesiella longiabdominalis, a species which was temporarily transferred to Brueelia by Hopkins & Clay (1952) when they synonymised Guimaraesiella under Brueelia. However, Gustafsson & Bush (2017: 224) moved Br. longiabdominalis back to Guimaraesiella, placing it as a junior synonym of Guimaraesiella papuana. Therefore, following Article 59.2 of the Code (1999), no replacement name is needed for Br. longiabdominalis (Mey, 2017), but the combination “ Brueelia longiabdominalis ” now refers to two different taxa in the literature: one to a species from a New Guinean bird-of-paradise (= Guimaraesiella longiabdominalis) and another to a louse from an Australia sittella (= Brueelia longiabdominalis). Also, it should be noted that the genus Brueelia sensu stricto is exceedingly rare in Australia, with some species introduced with European hosts [e.g. Brueelia nebulosa (Burmeister, 1838), see Green & Palma 1991]. Considering that Daphoenositta chrysoptera and all other species of the family Neosittidae are endemic to Australasia, and that the material examined by Mey (2017: 151) includes many specimens from five different collecting events, Brueelia longiabdominalis may be the result of a successful host-switch from an unknown European host onto Daphoenositta chrysoptera.