The tropical rainforests of Sundaland are a global biodiversity hotspot increasingly threatened by human activities. While parasitic insects are an important component of the ecosystem, their diversity and parasite-host relations are poorly understood in the tropics. We investigated parasites of passerine birds, the chewing lice of the speciose genus Myrsidea Waterston, 1915 (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) in a natural rainforest community of Malaysian Borneo. Based on morphology, we registered 10 species of lice from 14 bird species of six different host families. This indicated a high degree of host specificity and that the complexity of the system could be underestimated with the potential for cryptic lineages/species to be present. We tested the species boundaries by combining morphological, genetic and host speciation diversity. The phylogenetic relationships of lice were investigated by analyzing the partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and the nuclear elongation factor alpha (EF-1α) genes sequences of the species. This revealed a monophyletic group of Myrsidea lineages from seven hosts of the avian family Pycnonotidae, one host of Timaliidae and one host of Pellorneidae. However, species delimitation methods supported the species boundaries hypothesized by morphological studies and confirmed that four species of Myrsidea are not single host specific. Cophylogenetic analysis by both distance-based test ParaFit and event-based method Jane confirmed overall congruence between the phylogenies of Myrsidea and their hosts. In total we recorded three cospeciation events for 14 host-parasite associations. However only one host-parasite link (M. carmenae and their hosts Terpsiphone affinis and Hypothymis azurea) was significant after the multiple testing correction in ParaFit.

Four new species are described: Myrsidea carmenae sp.n. ex Hypothymis azurea and Terpsiphone affinis, Myrsidea franciscae sp.n. ex Rhipidura javanica, Myrsidea ramoni sp.n. ex Copsychus malabaricus stricklandii, and Myrsidea victoriae sp.n. ex. Turdinus sepiarius.

桑达兰的热带雨林是全球生物多样性热点，日益受到人类活动的威胁。尽管寄生昆虫是生态系统的重要组成部分，但在热带地区人们对它们的多样性和寄生虫与宿主之间的关系知之甚少。我们调查了雀形目鸟类的寄生虫，即特有种Myrsidea的咀嚼虱子沃特斯顿，1915年（Phthiraptera：Menoponidae）位于马来西亚婆罗洲的天然雨林社区。基于形态，我们从六个不同寄主家庭的14种鸟类中登记了10种虱子。这表明高度的宿主特异性，并且系统的复杂性可能由于存在隐秘谱系/物种而被低估。我们通过结合形态，遗传和宿主物种多样性来测试物种边界。通过分析该物种的部分线粒体细胞色素氧化酶I（COI）和核伸长因子α（EF-1α）基因序列，研究了虱子的亲缘关系。这揭示了Myrsidea的单系群来自七个家族的家蝇科的寄主，一个寄主的寄主和一个寄主的寄主的谱系。但是，物种定界方法支持了形态学研究假设的物种边界，并证实了Myrsidea的四个物种不是单一宿主特异性的。通过基于距离的测试ParaFit和基于事件的方法进行的系统发生分析，简（Jane）证实了Myrsidea的系统发育与其宿主之间的整体一致性。总共我们记录了14个寄主-寄生虫协会的3个共物种事件。但是，只有一个寄主-寄生虫链接（卡门氏分枝杆菌及其寄主Terpsiphone affinis和Hypothymis azurea） 在ParaFit中进行多次测试更正后，结果非常重要。

描述了四个新物种：Myrsidea carmenaesp.n 。前Hypothymis azurea和Terpsiphone affinis，Myrsidea franciscae sp.n. 前Rhipidura鸦胆子，Myrsidea ramoni sp.n. 前Copsychus malabaricus stricklandii 和Myrsidea victoriae sp.n. 例如 Turdius sepiarius。