REVISION OF DENNYUS (COLLODENNYUS) LICE (PHTHIRAPTERA, MENOPONIDAE) FROM SWIFTLETS, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW TAXA AND A COMPARISON OF HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIPS

Lice of the subgenus Dennyus (Collodennyus) are host specific, permane nt parasites of swiftlets (Aves: Apodidae). As a prelude to a test of the hypothesis that these lice have cospeciated with their hosts, we r evise the taxonomy of the subgenus, redescribing the seven previously recognized species, and adding thirteen new species and three new subs pecies. All twenty-three of these louse tars are found on swiftlets (A podiformes: Apodidae), with four from hosts of the genus Collocalia, e ighteen from Aerodramus, and one from Hydrochous. Successful identific ation is associated in most cases with females; males are only tenuous ly separable. A complete host-parasite list for the subgenus Collodenn yus is provided, as well as a key for the identification of these taxa . Limited morphological variation within the subgenus has prevented re ady extraction of discrete characters for cladistic analysis. In the a bsence of such characters, a cluster analysis of female and male lice is presented. Comparison of a dendrogram for Dennyus (Collodennyus) wi th a molecular phylogeny for the swiftlet hosts suggests that the hist ory of the swiftlet-louse association has been complex, including epis odes of host switching and independent speciation by the lice.