Taxonomic Limits of the Genus Nagelus (Thorne and Malek, 1968 Siddiqi, 1979 with a Description of Nagelus borealis n.sp. from Alaska.

The genus Nagelus (Thorne and Malek, 1968) Siddiqi, 1979 is modified and a new species from Alaska is described. The combination of scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy permits the characterization of Nagelus spp. as having a broadly oval face pattern, no longitudinal striations on the lip region, deirids surrounded by six incisures, and an irregularly tapering tail with a large hyaline region. Nagelus leptus (Allen, 1955) Siddiqi, 1979, N. alpensis Doucet and Luc, 1981, N. camelliae (Kheiri, 1972) Siddiqi, 1979, N. jamelensis (Nesterov, 1973) Siddiqi, 1979, and N. obscurus (Allen, 1955) n. comb. are retained on this basis. Nagelus borealis n. sp. is characterized by a styler length of 30 mum or more, an irregularly scalloped perioral disc, and a proportionately larger basal bulb. Nagelus abalosi (Doucet, 1978) Doucet. 1980 and N. virginalis (Doucet, 1978) Doucet, 1980 are synonymized with N. leptus. Nine other species from Nagelus are transferred to Merlinius Siddiqi, 1970.