''Colpocephalum'' is a genus of

chewing louse The Mallophaga are a possibly paraphyletic section of lice, known as chewing lice, biting lice, or bird lice, containing more than 3000 species. These lice are external parasites that feed mainly on birds, although some species also feed on mamma ...

Christian Ludwig Nitzsch Christian Ludwig Nitzsch (3 September 1782 – 16 August 1837) was a German zoologist. He is best remembered for his approach to classifying birds on the basis of their feather tract distributions or pterylosis of their young. Career He was profe ...

named the genus in 1818. The Plenary Powers of the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

selected ''Colpocephalum zebra'' as its

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

in the 1950s. There are approximately 135 species in this genus, and they are

ectoparasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...

of birds in at least a dozen different

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

Taxonomic history and the type species

''Colpocephalum'' was

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

in 1818. Nitzsch classified this taxon as a subgenus of the genus ''Liotheum''. He included four species, which in his taxonomy were called ''L.'' (''C.'') ''zebra'', ''L.'' (''C.'') ''flavescens'', ''L.'' (''C.'') ''subaequale'', and ''L.'' (''C.'') ''ochraceum''. The first three species were ''

nomina nuda Nomen may refer to: *Nomen gentilicium, the middle part of Ancient Roman names ** ''Nomen est omen'', a Latin quote about nominative determinism *Nomen (ancient Egypt), the personal name of Ancient Egyptian pharaohs *Jaume Nomen (born 1960), Catal ...

''; only the last was accompanied with an indication to a previously-published illustration, namely a 17th-century illustration by

Francesco Redi Francesco Redi (18 February 1626 – 1 March 1697) was an Italians, Italian physician, naturalist, biologist, and poet. He is referred to as the "founder of experimental biology", and as the "father of modern parasitology". He was the first perso ...

. He wrote the indication as "Pulex avis pluvialis Redi exp. fig. sup." In order to keep this name valid,

Theresa Clay Theresa Rachel "Tess" Clay (7 February 1911 – 17 March 1995) was an English entomologist. She was introduced to zoology by her older relative, the ornithologist and adventurer Richard Meinertzhagen, with whom she had an unusually close relati ...

and

George Henry Evans Hopkins George Henry Evans Hopkins OBE (22 March 1898 – 20 February 1973) was an English entomologist. Hopkins made major contributions in scientific research into three groups of insects – lice, fleas and mosquitoes. He was regarded as a great scie ...

restricted

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

name ''Pediculus charadrii'' to only the bottom figure of Redi's plate. Strictly applying the

ICZN Code The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...

, the

should have been ''Liotheum'' (''Colpocephalum'') ''ochraceum'', as it was the only

available name In zoological nomenclature, an available name is a Binomial nomenclature, scientific name for a taxon of animals that has been published after 1757 and conforming to all the mandatory provisions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ...

included in the original circumscription. However, in 1906, Louis Georges Neumann designated "''Liotheum'' (''Colpocephalum'') ''zebra'' " as the type species for this taxon instead. Other phthirapterists followed Neumann's designation. In 1948, Hopkins petitioned the

(ICZN) to officially allow this species to remain the genus's type species instead of "''Liotheum'' (''Colpocephalum'') ''ochraceum''; this was published in 1951. Hopkins also notes that ''L.'' (''C.'') ''ochraceum'' is

congeneric Congener may refer to: * Congener (biology), organisms within the same genus * Congener (chemistry), related chemicals, e.g., elements in the same group of the periodic table * Congener (beverages), a substance other than ethanol produced during t ...

with ''Colpocephalum uniseriatum'' , the type species of ''

Actornithophilus ''Actornithophilus'' is a genus of louse in the family Amblycera. It was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by Gordon Floyd Ferris in 1916. Its species are ectoparasites of birds in the order Charadriiformes. Species , the following spec ...

'', which would further complicate the situation. As the species ''C. zebra'' only became valid with

Hermann Burmeister Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (also known as Carlos Germán Conrado Burmeister) (15 January 1807 – 2 May 1892) was a German Argentine zoologist, entomologist, herpetologist, botany, botanist, and coleopterologist. He served as a professor at ...

species description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it diff ...

of ''Colpocephalum zebra'' in 1838, he requested that the Plenary Powers of the ICZN designate ''Colpocephalum zebra'' as the type species of ''Colpocephalum'' in order to "avoid disastrous confusion." Prior to petitioning the ICZN, Hopkins asked other experts in Mallophaga for their opinion on this matter. He received support from W. Büttiker, T. Clay, W. Eichler, , , W. J. Jellison, S. v. Kéler, R. Meinertzhagen, E. O'Mahony, G. B. Thompson and F. L. Werneck; he received opposition from J. Bequaert and J. E. Webb, who both opposed the use of Plenary Powers in general. Later support came from

Ernst Mayr Ernst Walter Mayr ( ; ; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was a German-American evolutionary biologist. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher of biology, and ...

. In 1952, the ICZN voted 17 to 0 in favor of Hopkins's proposal. The members of the commission who voted affirmatively were, in the order their ballots were received, N. D. Riley, E. M. Hering, W. T. Calman, J. R. Dymond, , P. B. Bonnet, H. E. Vokes, A. do Amaral, J. Pearson, J. C. Bradley, F. Hemming, T. Esaki, H. Lemche, R. Mertens, Á. Cabrera, N. R. Stoll, and H. Boschma. A ballot was not received from T. Jaczewski, the remaining member of the commission. The decision was published as part of Opinion 342 in 1955.

Biology

Species in this genus

parasitize Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ento ...

birds of at least 13 orders, including: *

Accipitriformes The Accipitriformes (; ) are an order of birds that includes most of the diurnal birds of prey, including hawks, eagles, vultures, and kites, but not falcons. For a long time, the majority view was to include them with the falcons in the Falc ...

Ciconiiformes Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

(storks) *

Columbiformes Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

(pigeons) *

Cuculiformes Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

(cuckoos) *

Falconiformes The order Falconiformes () is represented by the extant family Falconidae, Falconidae (falcons and caracaras) and a handful of enigmatic Paleogene species. Traditionally, the other bird of prey families New World vulture, Cathartidae (New World v ...

(falcons) *

Galliformes Galliformes is an order (biology), order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkey (bird), turkeys, chickens, Old World quail, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems ...

(gamefowl) *

Gruiformes The Gruiformes ( ) are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like". Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that ...

Passeriformes A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

(passerines) *

Pelecaniformes The Pelecaniformes are an order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide. As traditionally (but erroneously) defined, they encompass all birds that have feet with all four toes webbed. Hence, they were formerly also known by such ...

(pelicans) *

Phoenicopteriformes Phoenicopteriformes is a group of water birds which comprises flamingos and their extinct relatives. Flamingos (Phoenicopteriformes) and the closely related grebes ( Podicipedidae) are contained in the parent clade Mirandornithes. Fossil ...

(flamingos) *

Piciformes Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes (), the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, ...

(woodpeckers) * Psittaciformes (parrots) * Strigiformes (owls) ''Colpocephalum'' species are examples of "rapid running l ce. ''C. turbinatum'', an ectoparasite of various birds including the

Galápagos hawk The Galápagos hawk (''Buteo galapagoensis'') is a large hawk Endemism, endemic to most of the Galápagos Islands. Description The Galapágos hawk is similar in size to the red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') and the Swainson's hawk (''But ...

, has been described as "highly mobile". Due to their speed, they can easily escape a bird trying to remove them through

preening Preening is a found in birds that involves the use of the beak to position feathers, interlock feather that have become separated, clean plumage, and keep ectoparasites in check. Feathers contribute significantly to a bird's insulation, waterp ...

; this allows them to inhabit birds' breast, anal, and back regions, where slower lice would be readily removed. ''Colpocephalum'' species eat feathers;

pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

s with large infestations of ''C. turbinatum'' can have almost all of their

vent Vent or vents may refer to: Science and technology Biology *Vent, the cloaca region of an animal *Vent DNA polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase Geology *Hydrothermal vent, a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water ...

region feathers' fluff eaten. High numbers of ''Colpocephalum'' can also damage a pigeon's

flight feather Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

s and decrease their flying power. ''Colpocephalum'' lice can live within flight feathers' quills. In addition to eating feathers, ''C. turbinatum'' consume their hosts' skin. Adults of this species have also been reported to engage in cannibalism in laboratory colonies, eating their own eggs and up to 80% of their nymphs.

Species

The genus has approximately 135 species, including: * '' Colpocephalum cooki'' * '' Colpocephalum falconii'' * '' Colpocephalum fregili'' * '' Colpocephalum pectinatum'' * '' Colpocephalum scopinum'' * '' Colpocephalum subzerafae'' * '' Colpocephalum turbinatum'' * '' Colpocephalum zebra'' * '' Colpocephalum zerafae'' *†''

Colpocephalum californici ''Colpocephalum californici'', the California condor louse, is an extinct species of chewing louse which parasitized the California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus''). In an example of coextinction, it became extinct when the remaining, Crit ...

'' -

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

Taxonomic history and the type species

Biology

Species

References

Further reading