Die Mallophagen (Insecta, Phthiraptera: Amblycera & Ischnocera) der Galloanseres (Aves) – ein Überblick

Over the past 20 years, the postulation that the Galliformes (grouse, pheasants, etc.) and the Anseriformes (ducks, geese, etc.) are each other’s nearest relative has become firmly established. They form a phylogenetically related group whose sister group is the Neoaves, which comprises all recent avian orders, with the exception of the tinamous, kiwis, rheas, Ostrich, Emu, and cassowaries (= Palaeognathae). All of these orders are host to the permanent obligate ectoparasitic Mallophaga (chewing lice), an in- sect group that has been subjected to varying levels of attention over the past century in pa- rasitophyletic research as an ideal example of coevolution. And it is indeed the case that every extant order of birds can be characterized by its own unique spectrum of Mallophaga genera. It is shown here that this is especially true for the Galliformes and Anseriformes, despite a few cases of secondary infestation. All currently known chewing-lice genera (including genero- types), their species diversity, and their geographic-hospitalic distribution are presented in this paper, with some comments and illustrations. The Mallophaga parasitizing galliform birds are more varied than those on the Anseriformes: 67 genera (19 Amblycera, 48 Ischnocera) on the former, 14 genera (5 Amblycera, 9 Ischnocera) on the latter. Even though a complete picture of their diversity and an agreed systematics and taxonomy still seem to lie in the future, it should be expected that our current knowledge would be sufficient to show that phylogenetic relationships do exist between the Mallophaga faunas of both avian orders. However, this is not the case. There is no Mallophaga genus that both host orders share with each other. From a parasitophyletic perspective, two basic conclu- sions can be drawn from this. 1. The postulated sister-group relationship between Galliformes and Anseriformes is questionable. 2. Mallophaga are not a suitable indicator of relatedness between these two avian orders because the spread and subsequent species radiation of the parasites only occurred after the galliform and anseriform birds had gone their separate phylogenetic ways.

The Mallophaga fauna of the Galliformes and other bird orders are characterized by features they have in common which (given that their taxonomy remains insufficiently known) are genealogically to be interpreted only specu- latively. The Galliformes 1. share Goniodidae only with the Columbiformes, while there is also a distant relationship between the Gonio- didae and the Heptapsogasteridae of the Tima- niformes, 2. share Menacanthus sensu lato with the Tinamiformes and the Musophagiformes, 3. share Colpocephalum sensu lato with (among others) some Piciformes and Passeriformes, 4. share Kelerimenopon with Psittaciformes and Pittidae (Passeriformes). By contrast, among the Mallophaga of the Anseriformes no such widespread inter-order connections can be re- cognized. Two species, one Austrogoniodes and one Saemundssonia, probably originating from hosts in the Sphenisciformes (penguins) and Charadriiformes (waders, gulls, etc.) respec- tively, have separately secondarily infested two Australian duck species. On the other hand, the clear relationship between the ducks, etc. and the flamingos (Phoenicopteriformes) appears to be of a different, namely ancient phylogene- tic quality. Both orders harbour Anaticola and each of them another three closely related Mal- lophaga genera (Anatoecus/Cereopsoecus and Flamingobius; Anseriphilus and Tendeiroella; Trinoton and Ewingella).
The actual publication date of the works by KÉ- LER (1940 not 1939), CARRIKER (1946 not 1945) und v. KÉLER (1953 not 1952) means that the accompanying year has to be altered in the total of 74 taxa at the genus and species levels newly described there. The stability of the scientific names is not affected by these necessary alterations.