PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 91(1), 1989, pp. 1-8 GEOMYDOECUS (MALLOPHAGA: TRICHODECTIDAE) FROM THE TEXAS AND DESERT POCKET GOPHERS (RODENTIA: GEOMYIDAE) Ronald A. Hellenthal and Roger D. Price (RAH) Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556; (RDP) Professor, Department of Entomology, Uni-versity of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108. Abstract. — Geomydoecus truncatiis Wemeck and G. quadridentatus Price anS Emerson are redescribed and illustrated. The new species G. neotruncatus is described, with the type host being Geomvs personatus streckeri Davis. / t n m -i Key Words: lice, Geomys arenarius, Geomys personatus \ Since the initial revision of the pocket gopher lice by Price and Emerson (1971), most of the taxa of the louse genus Geo-mydoecus Ewing occurring on the host ge-nus Geomys Rafinesque have been the sub-ject of re-examination and further study and analysis. The principal works dealing with these lice are those by Price and Hellenthal (1975) on the Geomydoecus texamis com-plex, Price (1975) on the G. scleritus com-plex, and Timm and Price (1980) on the G. geomydis complex. This last work presents keys to the males and females of all Geo-mydoecus known to that time from Geomys gophers. It is the purpose of the present pa-per to complete the taxonomic study of lice from Geomys by considering the Geomy-doecus truncatus complex from the Texas pocket gopher, Geomys personatus True, and the Geomydoecus quadridentatus complex from the desert pocket gopher, Geomys are-narius Merriam. Quantitative data for the lice studied in this paper combined with host and locality information form part of a computerized pocket gopher-louse data base maintained at the University of Notre Dame. Counted or measured characters in the following de-scriptions are followed by the minimal and maximal observed values, and, in paren-theses, the sample size, mean, and standard deviation. All measurements are in milli-meters. In evaluating character usefulness for specific discrimination, critical values for each character were calculated at the point where the likelihood of single char-acter misidentification of the two compared taxa was equal, given normality and equal variance, and ignoring the probability of collection. For characters offering moder-ately good discriminating ability, these crit-ical values and the corresponding probabil-ities of misidentification are given. In an abbreviated comparative description for a species, quantitative data are given only for those characters whose means differ at a sig-nificance level of P < 0.01. The host dis-tribution map was produced by a computer from a pocket gopher/louse association data base (Hellenthal and Price 1984). The map projection is rectangular to simplify deter-mination of the latitude and longitude for individual collection sites. Original locality data expressed in miles are followed par-enthetically by the metric equivalent to 0.1 km; the English figure, rather than the met-
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