Stenopsylla gigantea (Crawford, 1912)

Distribution. India: Assam (1 ♀, Kaziranga, 75 m, 7‒9.v.1975 (W. Wittmer & C. Baroni-Urbani) [NHMB, dry mounted]), West Bengal (Crawford 1912, as Trioza gigantea; Mathur 1975, as Trioza gigantea); Nepal (3 ♂, 3 ♀, Kosi, Chichila, 27°28’N / 87°14’E, 1900‒2000 m, 3‒5.vi.2001, Symplocos sp., Lithocarpus / Castanopsis forest and cleared areas (D. Burckhardt) #9a(3); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 immature, same but Mure, 27°30’N / 87°16’E, 2000–2100 m, 6–8/ 11‒12.vi.2001, Symplocos sp., Lithocarpus / Castanopsis and Ericaceae-sclerophyll forests, and cleared areas, #10a(3); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same but Deorali, 27°24’N / 87°20’E, 1450 m, to peak at 2800 m, 27°24’N / 87°22’E, 14.vi.2001, Symplocos sp., edges of Ericaceae sclerophyll forest on steep slope, in some places with Quercus, #15(1) [NHMB, dry mounted]).

Host plant. Symplocos sp. (Symplocaceae).

Comments. Crawford (1912) described Trioza gigantea from a single female from the Darjeeling district and Mathur (1975) reported a few additional females from the same area. The record by Enderlein (1921) from Sikkim (as Dasymastix gigantea), repeated by Mathur (1975), is erroneous. Mathur (1975) added a morphologically similar taxon as Trioza gigantea ssp. curta. Kandasamy (1980, 1986) studied the biology of T. gigantea and T. gigantea ssp. curta and recorded Vaccinium neilgherrense and Symplocos cochinchinensis var. laurina, respectively, as hosts. Recently we collected specimens of T. gigantea in Nepal on Symplocos sp. and conclude that Kandasamy (1980) has misidentified his material. T. gigantea ssp. curta differs considerably from the nominal species suggesting they are two distinct species. The following nomenclatorial changes are proposed here: Stenopsylla curta (Mathur, 1975), stat. and comb. nov. from Trioza.