Piercing mouth-parts in the biting lice (Mallophaga)

THE Mallophaga, ectoparasites of birds and mammals, are distinguished within the order Phthiraptera (containing also the Anoplura and Hæmatomyzus) chiefly by their relatively unspecialized mouth-parts, especially in having heavily sclerotized chewing mandibles. It has recently been found that in the genus Trochilæcetes, parasitic on the Trochili (hummingbirds), the species have a piercing type of mouth-parts (Fig. 1) instead of the mandibulate mouth-parts typical of the Mallophaga. Although four species of this genus have been described in the last fifty years, no previous reference to their mouth-parts is known.