Descriptions of Two Species of Pediculidae (Anoplura) from Great Apes (Primates, Pongidae)

Abstract

The male of Pediculus schaeffi Fahrenholz, 1910 is redescribed and illustrated. The adult female of Pthirus gorillae Ewing is for the first time described and illustrated. The taxonomy of the family Pediculidae is in a chaotic state. At present descriptions and knowledge of all the known species of the Pediculidae are insufficient to indicate their taxonomic status, except for Pediculus humanus L. and Pthirus pubis (L.). Ferris (1951) recognized four species of Pediculus: P. humanus L., P. pseudohumanus Ewing, P. mjfbergi Ferris, and P. schaeffi Fahrenholz. All other species of Pediculus should be reexamined for their validity with additional information. The genus Pthirus contains two species, P. pubis (L.) and P. gorillae Ewing. As late as 1965 two invalid generic names Phthirius and Phthirus have commonly been used for the genus Pthirus Leach. A specific name Phthirus pubis has been used for the crab louse Pthirus pubis (L.) (Blickenstaff, 1965). Pthirus Leach (1815) is the first established name for the genus, and Phthirius Burmeister (1835) and Phthirus Leach (1817) are invalidly emended names. The generic name Pthirus was decided as an available name for this taxon by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (Opinion 104, 1928) (Hemming, 1958). The other names Phthirius Burmeister and Phthirus Leach have been placed in the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology (Direction 63, 1957) and became unavailable (Hemming, 1958). The generic name Pthirus should only be used for this taxon. Through the efforts of U. S. mammalogists, Received for publication 13 May 1968. * Department of Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minne-