A new Ornithoctona (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) species from Baikal State Nature Reserve (Russia)

Abstract

Louse flies from the family Hippoboscidae parasitise birds and mammals. Both males and females feed on the blood and carry many dangerous diseases. Representatives of the genus Ornithoctona are full-winged, widely specialised parasites of birds. Before this study it was considered, that the genus Ornithoctona includes 12 species. Among them, only two species were recorded in the Palaearctic (from Kazakhstan, Russian Far East, and Kuril Islands). Other ones inhabit Africa, tropical Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the New World. During the annual bird ringing in the Baikal State Nature Reserve (Russia), a new species of the genus Ornithoctona (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) (Ornithoctona zootherae sp. nov.) was collected and described. Ornithoctona zootherae sp. nov. was found on Zoothera dauma, a common species, that breeds in Eastern Siberia and winters in China. Ornithoctona zootherae sp. nov. differs from all known Palearctic and Asian Ornithoctona species in larger body size (length of the head + thorax is 5.5–6.0 mm). Additionally, the new species differs from O. plicata in the wing-setulae, while O. plicata has no wing-setulae. It differs from O. soror and O. australaisiae in the ventral and dorsal view of the abdominal apices. A single key for all World species of the genus Ornithoctona is composed.