| Strigiphilus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Psocodea |
| Family: | Philopteridae |
| Genus: |
Strigiphilus Mjöberg, 1910 |
| Type species | |
|
Docophorus heterocerus Grube, 1851
| |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Strigiphilus is a genus of chewing louse in the suborder Ischnocera. It was circumscribed in 1910 by Eric Mjöberg.
Taxonomic history
Mjöberg initially circumscribed Strigiphilus as a subgenus of the genus he referred to as Docophorus (now known as Philopterus).
In a 1966 paper, Theresa Clay recognized 29 species and grouped them into the following nine species groups:
- Strigiphilus rostratus (Burmeister, 1838) group
- Strigiphilus heterocerus (Grube, 1851) group
- Strigiphilus cursor (Burmeister, 1838) group
- Strigiphilus crenulatus (Giebel, 1874) group
- Strigiphilus macrogenitalis Emerson & Elbel, 1957 group
- Strigiphilus strigis (Pontoppidan, 1763) group
- Strigiphilus siamensis Emerson & Elbel, 1957 group
- Strigiphilus ketupae Emerson & Elbel, 1957 group
- Strigiphilus cursitans (Nitzsch, 1861) group
The largest group is the S. curstans group.
Hosts
Strigiphilus is the only genus of Ischnocera to exclusively parasitize owls.
Species
As of 2017, there are approximately fifty species of Strigiphilus. Species include:
- Strigiphilus garylarsoni Clayton, 1990 (cursitans group)
Further reading
- Clay, Theresa (1975). "The macrogenitalis group of Strigiphilus (Philopteridae: Phthiraptera)" (PDF). Journal of Entomology. Series B, Taxonomy. 43 (2): 139–147. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.1975.tb00124.x.
- Clay, Theresa (1977). "The Strigiphilus cursitans Group (Phthiraptera: Insecta)" (PDF). Records of the Queen Victoria Museum. 56: 1–4.