''Rallicola'' 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 ...

. It is an

ectoparasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

s and other birds. It was named by

Thomas Harvey Johnston Thomas Harvey Johnston (9 December 1881 – 30 August 1951) was an Australian biologist and parasitologist. He championed the efforts to eradicate the invasive Opuntia, prickly pear. Life and times Johnston was born in 1881 at Balmain, Sydney, ...

and Launcelot Harrison in 1911. There are two

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

aside from the nominotypical subgenus: ''Aptericola'', whose species are found on kiwi birds, and ''Huiacola'', a

monospecific In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

subgenus consisting of '' Rallicola extinctus'', once found on the

huia The huia ( ; ; ''Heteralocha acutirostris'') is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was another credible sighting in 1924 ...

Taxonomic history

In 1866,

Ferdinand Rudow Ferdinand Rudow (2 April 1840 – 3 September 1920) was a German Entomology, entomologist best known for the poor quality of his taxonomic work. He described over 200 species of wasps during his lifetime, almost all of which have been revised as ...

circumscribed the

Philopteridae Philopteridae is a family (biology), family of feather lice. They are parasite, parasitic on birds, primarily consuming downy feathers. Philopteridae is a highly diverse family with more than 2,700 described species, and constitutes 30% of the o ...

genus '' Trabeculus'' with ''Trabeculus schillingi'' 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 1870, he created a new genus, ''Oncophorus'' with the same type species, making it an objective junior synonym of ''Trabeculus''. In 1880,

Édouard Piaget Édouard Piaget (3 November 1817 in Les Bayards – 10 September 1910 in Couvet) was a Swiss entomologist who specialised in lice (''Phthiraptera''). Life As a young man, Piaget became a teacher of French at Mr. de Raedt's , an upper class b ...

added more species to ''Oncophorus''. He listed the author citation as "Rud." for Rudow in 1880, but as "m." for ' to indicate himself in 1885.

and Launcelot Harrison created a new genus name, ''Rallicola'', in 1911. A new name was needed as ''Oncophorus'' and ''Oncophorus'' had a senior homonym and senior synonym, respectively. They only included ''Oncophorus'' species that parasitized rails and jacanas, leaving those that parasitized owls and hornbills to other genera. In 1915, Harrison split the genus into three subgenera: ''Rallicola (Rallicola)'' for species found on

Rallidae Rails (avian family Rallidae) are a large, Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes ...

(rails), ''Rallicola (Parricola)'' for those species found on Parridae, and ''Rallicola (Aptericola)'' for species found on

Apterygidae Kiwi are flightless birds endemism, endemic to New Zealand of the Order (biology), order Apterygiformes. The five extant species fall into the family Apterygidae and genus ''Apteryx''. Approximately the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are the ...

(kiwis). Harrison's 1916 list of Mallophaga species recognized sixteen valid species in ''Rallicola'', one in ''Parricola'' and three in ''Aptericola''. In 1990, Eberhard Mey described a new species, ''

Huiacola extinctus ''Rallicola extinctus'' is an extinct species of phtilopterid louse.Palma, R. L. (1999): Amendments and additions to the 1982 list of chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from birds in New Zealand. ''Notornis'' 46(3): 373–387PDF fulltext The p ...

'' and circumscribed a new genus, ''Huiacola'' for it. ''Huiacola'' was subsequently classified as a subgenus of ''Rallicola''.

Type species

Johnston and Harrison designated "''O. attenuatus'' " as its type species. This referred to a species

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 ''Philopterus (Nirmus) attenuatus'', which

included in his 1880 taxonomy of ''Oncophorus''. However, Nitzch's use of this name was

nomen nudum In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published ...

as it was only accompanied with a queried indication to a previously-described taxon, namely

Franz von Paula Schrank Franz von Paula Schrank (21 August 1747, in Neuhaus am Inn, Vornbach – 22 December 1835) was a German priest, botanist and entomologist. Biography He was ordained as a priest in Vienna in 1784, gaining his doctorate in theology two years lat ...

's 1781 description of ''Pediculus ortygometrae''. The name only became

available In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at a ...

in 1838 as ''Nirmus '', when

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 ...

provided the same indication to Schrank but without marking it as questionable.

Synonyms

, six synonyms for this genus are recognized. Hopkins and Clay designated ''Oncophorus bisetosus'' as the type species of Piaget's ''Oncophorus''. Harrison listed the type species of his subgenus ''Parricola'' as "''Rallicola (Parricola) sulcata'' ", i.e., ''Oncophorus sulcatus'' . Three of its junior synonyms were named and circumscribed by M. A. Carriker, Jr. Carriker named the genus ''Furnaricola'' in 1944; his circumscription included its type species ''F. acutifrons'' (with two subspecies, ''F. a. acutifrons'' and ''F. a. subsimilis'') as well as ''F. '', ''F. chunchotambo'', ''F. heterocephala'', ''F. laticephala'', ''F. parvigenitalis'', and ''F. titicacae'', which were all described in the same work. In a 1949 paper, he created the genus ''Epipicus'' for his new species ''E. scapanoides''. In another paper published in 1949, he named the genus ''Corvicola'', which consisted of his newly-described species ''C. insulana''. By 1952, Hopkins and Clay had classified ''Furnaricola'', ''Epipicus'', and ''Corvicola'' as junior synonyms of ''Rallicola''. In a 1966 paper, Carriker defended the validity of ''Furnaricola'' as a distinct genus. and treated ''Furnaricola'' as its own genus in 1987, but in 1993 Price and Dale Clayton concurred with Hopkins and Clay's synonymization. In 1982, circumscribed the genus ''Psophiicola''. Its type species is ''Liperus foedus'' , which he transferred from ''Rallicola''. This was the only species included in his circumscription.

Hosts

In 1953,

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 ...

reported that ''Rallicola'' have been found on 47 species across 25 genera of Rallidae. ''Rallicola'' can also be found on birds in the

Aramidae Aramidae is a bird family in the order Gruiformes. The limpkin (''Aramus guarauna'') is the only living member of this family, although other species are known from the fossil record, such as '' Papulavis annae'' from the Eocene of France, '' Ara ...

(limpkins), and

Psophiidae ''Psophia'' is a genus of birds restricted to the humid forests of the Amazon and Guiana Shield in South America. It is the only genus in the family Psophiidae. Birds in the genus are commonly known as trumpeters, due to the trumpeting or cackli ...

(trumpeters) families. The sole '' Huiacola'' species ''R.'' (''H.'') ''extinctus'' was found on the extinct

bird, in the family

Callaeidae Callaeidae (sometimes Callaeatidae) is a family of passerine birds endemic to New Zealand. It contains three genera, with five species in the family. One species, the huia, became extinct early in the 20th century, while the South Island kōk ...

. Species in ''Aptericola'' are found on

(kiwi birds).

Distribution

The subgenera ''Huiacola'' and ''Aptericola'' are both

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to New Zealand. Species in the subgenus ''Rallicola'' can be found in North America, the Pacific Islands, and New Zealand. An undescribed ''Rallicola (Rallicola)'' species was recorded in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

in 2013.

Subgenera and species

Three

are recognized, including the nominate subgenus.

''Rallicola''

''Rallicola'' . Type species: ''Nirmus attenuatus'' . Approximately 90 species, including: * '' Rallicola acutifrons'' * '' Rallicola advenus'' * '' Rallicola '' * '' Rallicola chunchotambo'' * '' Rallicola cuspidatus'' * '' Rallicola foedus'' * '' Rallicola funebris'' * '' Rallicola heterocephala'' * '' Rallicola insulana'' * '' Rallicola laticephala'' * '' Rallicola ortygometrae'' * '' Rallicola parvigenitalis'' * '' Rallicola piageti'' - possibly

coextinct Coextinction and cothreatened refer to the phenomenon of the loss or decline of a host species resulting in the loss or endangerment of another species that depends on it, potentially leading to cascading effects across trophic levels. The term w ...

; host New Caledonian rail * '' Rallicola scapanoides'' * '' Rallicola titicacae'' * '' Rallicola zumpti'' *'' Rallicola guami'' - probable conservation-induced extinction; host

Guam rail The Guam rail (''Hypotaenidia owstoni''), known locally and in Chamorro as ''ko'ko, is a small, terrestrial bird endemic to Guam in the Rallidae family. They are one of the island's few remaining endemic bird species. The species became extinc ...

''Aptericola''

''Aptericola'' . Type species: ''Rallicola (Aptericola) gadowi'' . Four species: * '' Rallicola gadowi'' * '' Rallicola gracilentus'' * '' Rallicola rodericki'' *'' Rallicola pilgrimi'' - conservation-induced extinction; host

little spotted kiwi The little spotted kiwi or little grey kiwi (''Apteryx owenii'') is a small flightless bird in the kiwi family, Apterygidae. It is the smallest of the five kiwi species, at about , about the size of a bantam. It is endemic to New Zealand, and ...

''Huiacola''

''Huiacola'' . Type species: ''Huiacola extinctus'' . One species: *'' Rallicola extinctus'' - coextinct; host

References

Works cited

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