PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Issued i^?fVK_C)5i§l ^y ^' 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 105 Washington: 1955 No, 3353 



BITING LICE OF THE GENUS SAEMUNDSSONIA 

 (MALLOPHAGA: PHILOPTERIDAE) OCCURRING ON TERNS 



By Ronald A. Ward ^ 



Recently Clay (1949) contributed to the elucidation of the system- 

 atics of the species of the genus Saemundssonia occurring on terns. 

 The present study undertakes to further amplify our knowledge of this 

 group by a restudy of Kellogg's specimens and the examination of 

 additional unstudied material. In it the known species are redescribed 

 where necessary, Saemundssonia brevicornis (Giebel) is removed from 

 synonymy and is considered as a distinct species, and two new species 

 are described^ — S. parvigenitalis from Sterna forsteri Nuttall, and S. 

 petersi from Sterna f. fuscata Linne. 



I am indebted to the following people and institutions for the loan 

 of specimens (the abbreviations following the names are used through- 

 out the paper to indicate where the material is deposited) : Dr. G. F. 

 Ferris, Stanford Natural History Museum (SNHM); Dr. Henry 

 Dietrich, Department of Entomology, Cornell University (CU); 

 Dr. E. A. Chapin, U. S. National Museum (USNM) ; Harold S. Peters, 

 U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, Ga. (HSP) ; Dr. E. H. Bryan, 

 Jr., Bernice P. Bishop Museum (BPBM); Dr. C. H. Curran, American 

 Museum of Natural History (AMNH); Rupert Wenzel, Chicago 

 Natural History Museum (CNHM) ; and Richard B. Fischer, Depart- 

 ment of Ornithology, Cornell University. For advice on certain 

 nomenclatorial problems, I wish to thank Dr. A. E. Emerson of the 

 University of Chicago and Mr. R. L. Araujo of the Institute Biol6gico, 

 Sao Paulo, Brazil. 



On the basis of the male genitalia, three main groups of species of 

 Saemundssonia may be considered. One group, consisting of S. 

 meridiana, S. petersi, and S. snyderi, has genitalia resembling those 

 found on the gulls; another group, S. lobaticeps and S. hopkinsi, has 



• Department of Biology, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Wash. 



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