The Ischnocera of the Trogonidae

Studies in Neotropical Mallophaga (XV)

Abstract

Apparently the members of the avian family Trogonidae are poor hosts for the insect parasites known as Mallophaga. The family of Trogons is found not only throughout the neotropical regions from sealevel to timberline, but is also found in Africa, southern Asia and the East Indian islands. In spite of its very wide distribution, and the large number of species contained in it, there are known, up to the present time, but three species of Mallophaga parasitic on its membres, all three belonging to one genus, and all three from neotropical hosts. The first species to be described form a Trogon was in 1903, when the author described Nirmus hastiformis from a Costa Rican species of that family This remained the only known species until 1944 when Dr. Guimarães descri- bed Degeeriella odontopluron form a brazilian Trogon. A third species was described by Dr. Emerson in 1952, Trogonirmus elegans. There was, however, a species of Nirmus described by Giebel in 1876 from a Trogon sp., but the description is very inadequate and the type lost, so that this species has been discarded from the nomenclature.