Gender correction for a louse (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from cormorants

1 Pages·1997·0.34 MB·

by  Roger Deforrest Price

VOLUME 99. NUMBER 3 587
PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH.
99(3), 1997, pp. 587
Note
Gender Correction for a Louse (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from Cormorants
Eichler (1950, Rivista di Parassitologia spelled it with the species in the feminine
11: 106) described Piagetiella caputincisa gender.
(Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) as a new spe- The late George C. Steyskal, in his ef-
cies, with the type host being the blue-eyed forts to put Latin ignorami on the rightpath,
cormorant, Phalacrocorax atriceps King. wrote to explain to us the error of our ways
The agreement of the specific with the ge- in considering ''caputincisa'"'' as the correct
neric name is obvious, as both are feminine. form. According to him, ''caputincisa'''' rep-
Subsequent workers have been consistent in resents a noun-phrase in apposition and the
perpetuating the spelling given by Eichler. adjective "incisa'' refers to "capuf, which
These include Hopkins and Clay (1952, is a neuter noun. Therefore, the correct
British Museum (Natural History): 292) in spelling for this scientific name must be Pi-
their check list of the genera and species of agetiella caputincisum. Rather than simply
chewing lice. Price (1970, Canadian Ento- change this spelling in our future references
mologist 102: 401) in his revision of the to this species, we thought it prudent to call
genus Piagetiella, Clay and Moreby (1970, attention as to why we are taking this action
Pacific Insects Monograph 23: 219) in a and remove any doubt that we may have
committed a typographical error in so do-
listing of lice of subantarctic islands, and
Robinson (1984, British Museum (Natural ing.
History) Pubhcation Number B2 0955: 31) Roger D. Price, 4622 KinkeadAve., Fort
in a checklist of insects of the Falkland Is- Smith, AR, U.S.A. 72903; Ricardo L. Palma,
lands. To the best of our knowledge, all Museum of New Zealand, P.O. Box 467,
published references to this species have Wellington, New Zealand.