Description of a new species of sucking louse Hoplopleura kuhnludwigi (Phthiraptera: Anoplura: Hoplopleuridae) from the Cape York rat Rattus leucopus cooktownensis (Rodentia: Muridae) in Australia using conventional methodology

Full title: Description of a new species of sucking louse Hoplopleura kuhnludwigi (Phthiraptera: Anoplura: Hoplopleuridae) from the Cape York rat Rattus leucopus cooktownensis (Rodentia: Muridae) in Australia using conventional methodology and novel epiflourescence microscopy

Highlight:

• Sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) have a significant impact on the health of the host.
• Conventional methods used to process and describe lice species are laborious.
• A new species of sucking louse is described using conventional methodology and novel epifluorescence microscopy.
• The rat host for the new louse species was confirmed by DNA sequencing.

A new species of sucking louse, Hoplopleura kuhnludwigi (Phthiraptera: Hoplopleuridae), from the Cape York rat Rattus leucopus cooktownensis Tate, 1951 (Rodentia: Muridae) is described and illustrated with photos and drawings. The host rat(s) were trapped in Northeast Queensland, Australia and identified using morphological characters and DNA sequencing. Hoplopleura kuhnludwigi is the first louse species to be described on R. leucopus. The morphology of the new louse species is contrasted with the morphology of Hoplopleura spp. previously described in Australian murids and shown to be different from other louse species that infest Australian native murids. Both conventional lice processing and staining methodology and a novel method, based on autofluorescence of chitin, have been used to describe and illustrate the diagnostic characters of H. kuhnludwigi. Processing of H. kuhnludwigi for epifluorescence microscopy (EM) is fast and easy, and the examination of the lice processed by this method can improve the accuracy of the description and identification of the lice species from genus Hoplopleura and potentially other louse species.

Online published - Nov 2024