Mallophaga from Birds of Costa Rica, Central America 13 



Nirmus rhamphasti sp. nov., pi. II, fig, 1 



Male. — Body, length 1.40 mm., width .48 mm., short and 

 robust, witli pale testaceus head and thorax, heavy antennal band.s 

 broken at the suture; abdomen oval, clear, with clear brown 

 lateral bands. 



Head, length .44 mm., width .43 mm. ; front sharply conical, 

 sides slightly concave, clypeus narrow and emarginate, with one 

 small hair at the suture ; trabeculae small, pale golden ; antennae 

 short, of median thickness, pale golden, second segment longest ; 

 temples large, expanding laterally and posteriorly, with one hair ; 

 eye prominent, colorless, with a very short bristle ; occiput con- 

 vex; antennal band broad, smoky brown, curving inward slightly 

 at base, inner margin sinuate, broken by clear clypeal suture, 

 beyond which they are pale testaceus ; clypeus and oval fossa 

 clear, except a dusky submarginal band across the tip ; mandibles 

 heavy, deep^ chestnut ; a small black ocular fleck and a short 

 brownish ocular blotch ; region between pale occipital bands clear ; 

 a rather large brownish occipital signature ; whole head, except 

 oval fossa and part betw^een occipital bands, an even testaceous. 



Prothorax quadrangular, sides flatly convex, without hairs ; 

 rather broad, brownish, lateral bands, extending around on pos- 

 terior portion ; coxal bands visible, interior of segment same color 

 as head. Metathorax larger, pentagonal, posterior margin angu- 

 lated on abdomen, with four slender hairs on each side and two 

 in the rounded posterior angles; sides flatly convex, widely di- 

 verging; broad lateral brown bands, curving inward slightly in 

 median portion of segment. Legs short and robust, pale golden, 

 narrowly edged with testaceus on anterior margins of femora 

 and tibiae. 



Abdomen, oval, with round, projecting, posterior angles, bear- 

 ing one hair in segments three and four, two in five to eight, and 

 six on the posterior margin of the ninth ; rather heavy, lateral 

 bands of smoky brown in segments one to seven, separated by 

 clear posterior angles, and the portion extending into the adja- 

 cent anterior segment, darker ; eighth segment with pale brown 

 spot in lateral portions and ninth with posterior half brownish ; a 

 median, longitudinal, dusky area, scarcely broken at the sutures 



US 



