A New Feather Mite (Acarina: Pterolichidae) from a Fruit Pigeon (Aves: Columbidae)

Abstract

Duculacarus turgisetosus gen. et sp. n., a pterolichid feather mite, is described from a fruit pigeon, Ducula c. chalconota, from West Irian, Indonesia. Feather mites from pigeons and doves (Columbidae) have been assigned primarily to the Analgidae (Diplaegidia Hull, 1934), Dermoglyphidae (Dermoglyphus Megnin, 1877) and Falculiferidae (11 of 11 described genera) (Gaud, 1976). From our many collections from the Columbidae, we have discovered a new taxon of the Pterolichidae, a large and complex group of feather mites occurring on many of the non-passeriform birds, but until now, not known from pigeons and doves. From the examination of 750 museum study skins of Ducula, representing the 36 species and many subspecies, only a few specimens of Ducularcarus gen. n. have been discovered. The host, Ducula c. chalconota (Salvadori), is restricted to the northern Vogelkop region of New Guinea (Mayr, 1941; Goodwin, 1970), but we have not collected from the second subspecies, D. c. smaragdina Mayr, which is widely distributed in other mountains of West Irian and Papua New Guinea. The new taxon is assigned to the Pterolichidae, a family characterized in part by having L-shaped condylophores articulated to the dorsal surfaces of the tarsi; ambulacra with well-developed sclerites but lacking the condylophore guide; tarsi III, IV each with three ventral setae; tibiae III, IV each with seta kT; genua I-III each with solenidion o1 and Trochanters I-III each with one seta (Gaud and Atyeo, 1978a, b).