Motacilla alba, Linnaeus, 1758

Schneider, Marek, Kolencik, Stanislav, Literak, Ivan & Sychra, Oldrich, 2025, Redescriptions of three species in the louse genus Myrsidea (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Amblycera), Zootaxa 5653 (3), pp. 411-428 : 420

Ex Motacilla alba

TAIWAN (FORMOSA): 1♀, 1♂, (as Myrsidea cf. dukhunensis ), Ping-tung Hsien , Fang Liao, 4 Apr. 1960, (Elbels’ Collection, PIPeR 10236 ); 1♀, 1♂, same data ( USNM). These four specimens are regarded as stragglers ( Kolencik et al. 2024: Appendix) .

Remarks

The original description of Myrsidea flavida provides only scarce morphometric data and poor-quality illustrations, hence our redescription supported by illustrations from both sexes. Myrsidea flavida is one of three known species of Myrsidea from hosts of the family Eurylaimidae ( Sychra et al. 2014; Chu et al. 2019; Kolencik et al. 2024). Myrsidea claytoni Hellenthal & Price, 2003 and M. palmai Hellenthal & Price, 2003 were originally described from bulbuls ( Pycnonotidae ): Pycnonotus eutilotus (Jardine & Selby, 1837) from Sarawak, and Alophoixus ochraceus (Moore, F, 1854) from Thailand, respectively ( Hellenthal & Price 2003). However, M. claytoni was subsequently recorded on Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos (Gmelin, JF, 1788) ( Eurylaimidae ) in Vietnam by Sychra et al. (2014), and M. palmai was recorded on Serilophus lunatus (Gould, 1834) ( Eurylaimidae ) in China by Chu et al. (2019). These two species differ from M. flavida by the male genital sac sclerite (see above for detailed description of M. flavida ), which in M. claytoni and M. palmai have distal arms strongly curved laterally to form conspicuous hooklike projections, and lateral arms with deeply serrated lateral margins and proximal part continuing to a quite large subapical projection of an irregular shape (see Figs. 217–218 in Kolencik et al. 2024). Therefore, Kolencik et al. (2024: 38) placed the latter two species in the palmai morphotype-group.