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Ricardo Palma (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand) has described in the journal Zootaxa a new species of chewing louse from three species of albatrosses in New Zealand: Light-mantled Sooty Phoebetria palpebrata, Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma and Campbell T. impavida.

The paper's abstract follows:

"I describe and illustrate three new species of chewing lice in the genus Saemundssonia, collected from seabirds in New Zealand, the Galápagos and other islands of the Pacific Ocean.  They are: Saemundssonia (Saemundssonia) albatrossa n. sp. from Phoebetria palpebrata, Thalassarche chrysostoma, and Thalassarche impavida; Saemundssonia (Saemundssonia) creagrusa n. sp. from Creagrus furcatus; and Saemundssonia (Saemundssonia) gygisa n. sp. from Gygis alba candida."

A Light-mantled Sooty Albatross guards its chick
Photograph by Rowan Treblico

Reference:

Palma, R.L. 2012.  Three new species of the louse genus Saemundssonia (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Philopteridae).  Zootaxa 3478: 38-48.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 December 2012