Antarctophthirus microchir Trouessart & Neumann 1888

Antarctophthirus microchir (Trouessart & Neumann, 1888)

Echinophthirius microchir Trouessart & Neumann, 1888: 80, figs a–c.

Antarctophthirus microchir (Trouessart & Neumann, 1888); Enderlein, 1906: 663, figs 3–4; Dalla Torre 1908: 17, fig. 11; Enderlein 1909: 504, 508, 511, pl. 58, pl. 60, figs 183–184; Neumann 1909: 537; Ferris 1916a: 183; Ferris 1916b: 370; Tillyard 1926: 135; Freund 1928: 21, figs 17–19; Ferris 1934: 489, figs 285–286; Thompson 1938: 94; Webb 1946: 51, 95, figs 207–208; Séguy 1951: 1381; Ferris 1951: 73; Jellison 1952: 274; Margolis 1954: 277; Margolis 1956: 502; Thorsteinson & Lensink 1962: 358; Clay 1964: 233; Gressitt 1964: 539; King 1964: 140; Spencer 1966: 23; Dailey & Hill 1970: 128, 130; Clay & Moreby 1970: 220; Gressitt 1970: 329; Dailey & Brownell 1972: 529–531, fig. 9-13; Margolis & Dailey 1972: 14; Kim et al. 1975: 547; Marlow 1975: 171; King 1983: 203; Kim et al. 1986: 46, pl. 2; Kim 1987: 230, figs 23.24–23.27; Kim 1988: 107, 109; Durden & Musser 1994a: 7; Durden & Musser 1994b: 140; Barker 1996: 236; Dailey et al. 2005: 614; King 2005: 234; Morgades et al. 2006: 91, fig. 3; McIntosh & Murray 2007: 103; Leonardi et al. 2009: 1086, figs 1–7; Aznar et al. 2009: 293, figs 1–4; Palma 2010: 409; Leonardi et al. 2011: 62, figs 2–3, 6; Leonardi et al. 2012a: 929, figs 1–12; Leonardi et al. 2012b: 2, figs 1–3.

Antarctophthirius [sic] microchir (Trouessart & Neumann, 1888); Ass 1934: 103. Misspelling.

Antarctophthirus microchir californianus Fahrenholz, 1939: 42. Hopkins 1949: 508. Rejected as a subspecies by Ferris 1951: 73.

Antarctophirus [sic]? microchir; Clay in Hamilton 1939: 164. Misspelling.

Antarctophthirus microchir microchir (Trouessart & Neumann, 1888); Hopkins 1949: 508.

Antarcthophthirius [sic] microchir; Raga 1997: 76, fig 5. Misspelling.

Type host. Phocarctos hookeri (Gray, 1844) — New Zealand sea lion.

Type locality. Auckland Islands, New Zealand.

Type specimen/s data. Syntypes Ƥ probably lost (Enderlein 1906: 665; Kim et al. 1986: 46). There is no information about their original deposition.

Other hosts. Family Otariidae—Sea lions: Neophoca cinerea (Péron, 1816) —Australian sea lion; Zalophus californianus (Lesson, 1828) —California sea lion; Zalophus wollebaeki Silvertsen, 1953 —Galápagos sea lion; Otaria flavescens (Shaw, 1800) —Southern American sea lion; Eumetopias jubatus (Schreber, 1776) —Northern sea lion.

Geographic distribution. Palearctic, Nearctic, Neotropical and Australasian Regions.

Significant references. Enderlein (1909: 508, description, figures of both sexes); Freund (1928: 21, detailed figures); Ferris (1934: 489, synonymy, description, figures, hosts); Webb (1946: 95, spiracle structure); Ferris (1951: 75, synonymy, hosts, notes); Kim et al. (1986: 46, redescription, figures, biology); Kim (1987: 230, figures of egg and all nymphal stages); Durden & Musser (1994a: 7, synonymy, hosts, distribution); McIntosh & Murray (2007: 103, ecology); Leonardi et al. (2009: 1086, redescription of nymphs and adults); Aznar et al. (2009: 293, population dynamics); Leonardi et al. (2011: 62, popular account); Leonardi et al. (2012a: 929, scanning electron microscopy of egg, adults and nymphs); Leonardi et al. (2012b: 2, ecology).

Remarks. A. microchir probably represents a complex of morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species. Leonardi et al. (2009, 2012a) compared specimens with reference material from the New Zealand, Australian, Steller and Californian sea lions, without finding morphological differences. Ferris (1934: 498) reported as “ Antarctophthirus sp.” a fragmentary specimen collected from an Arctocephalus sp. without locality data which, according to him, had scales of the type present on A. microchir but more elongate.