Description of a new quill mite species (Syringophilidae: Picobiinae) with notes on the distribution and origin of picobiines parasitizing piciform birds (Aves: Piciformes)

The fauna of quill mites of the family Syringophilidae (Acariformes: Cheyletoidea) parasitizing birds in Mexico is surveyed. Three new species of the genus Syringophiloidus Kethley are described: S. amazilia sp. nov. from Amazilia candida (Bonaer & Mulsant) (Apodiformes: Trochilidae), S. cincli sp. nov. from Cinclus mexicanus Swainson (Passeriformes: Cinclidae), and S. sporophila sp. nov. from Sporophila torqueola (Bonaparte) (Passeriformes: Thraupidae). Additionally, six quill mite species are found for the first time in Mexico and several new host associations are recorded. The syringophilid fauna presently recorded in Mexico is summarized.

Wolbachia is a common intracellular bacterial genus that infects numerous arthropods and filarial nematodes. In arthropods, it typically acts as a reproductive parasite, leading to various phenotypic effects such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis, feminization, or male-killing. Quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) are a group of bird parasites that have recently attracted increasing interest due to the detection of unique phylogenetic lineages of endosymbiotic bacteria and potentially pathogenic taxa. Our study used an unbiased 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing approach to examine several populations of Namibian quill mites for the presence of bacteria that could affect their biology. We detected Wolbachia in two mite populations collected from two species of larks. However, we did not find any other endosymbiotic bacteria or any that could be of epidemiological importance. Since the mite taxa we tested were previously unknown to science, we conducted comprehensive morphological and molecular systematic analyses on them. Our research revealed two new quill mite species of the genus Syringophilopsis Kethley, 1970 which parasitize three sub-Saharan alaudids, i.e., Syringophilopsis erythrochlamys sp. n. from the dune lark Calendulauda erythrochlamys (Strickland, HE) and S. christinae sp. n. from the Karoo long-billed lark Certhilauda subcoronata (Smith) and spike-heeled lark Chersomanes albofasciata (de Lafresnaye, NFAA). In addition, we provided the African reed warbler Acrocephalus baeticatus (Vieillot, LJP) as a new host for S. acrocephali Skoracki, 1999. Our study expands the knowledge on parasite diversity and provides new insights into Wolbachia infection among quill mites in Africa.

The wing quills of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus L.) may host as many as three species of quill mites, suggesting ecological differences in the quill mite habitat. Detailed investigation of a single species of quill mite, Syringophiloidus minor (Berl.) reveals adaptations that maximize mite success within the confines of the feather calmus and suggests a mechanism that allows partitioning of the wing by two or more different—sized quill mite species. Quill mites live inside the feather calmus and feed on host tissue fluids by piercing the quill wall with long styletlike chelicerae. Mite reproduction and development take place within the calmus. Only adult female mites disperse. Females can move into newly developing quills during host moult in the fall, or into the developing feathers of nestlings in the spring. The quills in which the mites live represent a closed system, with calmus volume limiting the number of mites that may mature and calmus wall thickness limiting the ability of the mites to feed. Female mites cease egg production before the quill contains enough mites to fill it. As a result, the quill does not become filled with immature forms that would be incapable of mating and dispersing. Males of S. minor are smaller than the females and have a frequency of exactly 1:11. Thus over 95% of the limiting resource, calmus volume, is occupied by females, the potential dispersants. The size of a female is evidently limited by two opposing selective pressures: the smaller they are, the more can disperse from a given quill, but if they become too small the mouthparts will not be able to reach through the quill wall to feed. Thus each quill size has an optimum mite size, and the mite species occur in a corresponding diversity of sizes.

Investigations of the parasites associated with extinct avian species provide unique insights into the ecology and evolution of both hosts and their parasitic counterparts. In the present paper, a new quill mite species, Peristerophila conuropsis sp. n., belonging to the family Syringophilidae (Prostigmata: Cheyletoidea) is described from the Carolina parakeet Conuropsis carolinensis Linnaeus (Psittaciformes: Psittacidae). This new species was collected from museum dry skin of the Carolina parakeet, the only native representative of the Psittacidae in the United States, which was an abundant resident of the southeastern and midwestern states and has been extinct in the beginning of the 20th century. Comment on the current taxonomic state and host associations of the genus Peristerophila are provided. Based on the host associations and habitats occupied by Peristerophila and related genera on parrots, it is hypothesized with the high probability that P. conuropsis has been extinct along with its host.

Quill mites are obligatory parasites of birds, widely distributed among their hosts. For the first time, we examined birds from two small, phylogenetically closely related piciform families, Megalaimidae (New World Barbets) and Capitonidae (Asian Barbets), for infestation by parasitic mites of the subfamily Picobiinae (Acariformes: Syringophilidae). Birds of the family Megalaimidae were infested by two new species of the genus Picobia: Picobia insolita Skoracki, Sikora & Unsoeld n. sp. collected from Caloramphus hayii in Indonesia, and Picobia paraheeri Skoracki, Sikora & Unsoeld n. sp. found on nine bird species of the genus Psilopogon, including P. zeylanicus in Sri Lanka, P. asiaticus in India, P. virens in China, P. franklini and P. lineatus both in Nepal, and P. corvinus, P. rafflesii, P. chrysopogon, P. pyrolophus, all in Indonesia. Within the Capitonidae family, a single quill mite species, Rafapicobia olszanowskii Skoracki et al. 2020, was found infesting two species of the genus Capito, i.e. C. maculicoronatus in Panama and C. niger in Surinam and Guyana, and these two Asian Barbet species are new hosts for this quill mite species. Our further analysis of picobiine mite records associated with the entire order of Piciformes revealed a correlation between the mites’ distribution patterns and the phylogeny of piciform birds. This significant congruence suggests a close evolutionary relationship between picobiine mites and their avian hosts. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F9DEB980-6481-4229-A071-52AC9FF69879 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6B4F98EB-D166-4DBF-B26F-49F4B22903A8 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:98140DAC-5C53-438B-85A6-1FBA52D178D0

Comparative genomics of parasitic and symbiotic microeukaryotes: Phylogenomic insights into lifestyle transitions and co-evolutionary dynamics.

In this paper we describe a new quill mite species Stibarokris dastychi sp. nov., parasitizing Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus) (Pelecaniformes: Phalacrocoracidae) and the male of S. phoeniconaias Skoracki et OConnor, 2010 from American Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber Linnaeus (new host). Additionally, the improved (including both female and male) diagnosis of the genus Stibarokris Kethley, 1970 and the key to all known species of this genus are given.

Relationships between host and microbial diversity have important ecological and applied implications. Theory predicts that these relationships will depend on the spatio-temporal scale of the analysis and the niche breadth of the organisms in question, but representative data on host-microbial community assemblage in nature is lacking. We employed a natural gradient of rodent species richness and quantified bacterial communities in rodent blood at several hierarchical spatial scales to test the hypothesis that associations between host and microbial species diversity will be positive in communities dominated by organisms with broad niches sampled at large scales. Following pyrosequencing of rodent blood samples, bacterial communities were found to be comprised primarily of broad niche lineages. These communities exhibited positive correlations between host diversity, microbial diversity and the likelihood for rare pathogens at the regional scale but not at finer scales. These findings demonstrate how microbial diversity is affected by host diversity at different spatial scales and suggest that the relationships between host diversity and overall disease risk are not always negative, as the dilution hypothesis predicts.

Cuckoos are known for being brood parasites, however, the majority of the family Cuculidae (Aves: Cuculiformes) raise their own young. In those brood parasitic cuckoo species, raised by their fosterers, direct contact between a parent and its offspring is unknown. Life cycle and ecology of their ectoparasites therefore remain enigmatic. Until now, only one quill mite species (Acari: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) parasitising brood parasitic cuckoo, Cuculus canorus L., was known. Therefore, we investigated syringophilid fauna of four other parasitic species of the family Cuculidae: Cuculus solitarius Steph., Cercococcyx montanus Chap., Pachycoccyx audeberti (Schl.), and Scythrops novaehollandiae (Lath.), as well as four non-parasitic species: Crotophaga ani L., C. sulcirostris Swain., Guira guira (Gmel.) and Centropus goliath (Bonap.). We have found out that all studied parasitic species as well as one non-parasitic cuckoo, Centropus goliath, forming one phylogenetic lineage, harbour the same quil...

Neoaulonastus cinnyris sp. nov. (Acari: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) parasitising Cinnyris mediocris (Passeriformes: Nectariniidae) from Tanzania is described. Additionally, Picobia oritis Skoracki et al. 2009 was recorded on four new hosts belonging to the family Nectariniidae from Ethiopian region: Cinnyris oustaleti (Bocage) from Angola, Cinnyris venustus (Shaw) from West Somalia, Cinnyris talatala Smith from Botswana and Zambia and Cinnyris erythrocercus (Hartlaub) from Uganda. All known quill mite species from family Nectariniidae are summarized in table.

We investigated the quill mite fauna of the family Syringophilidae (Acariformes: Prostigmata) associated with Sunbirds (Passeriformes: Nectariniidae) in the Sub-Saharan region. Six hundred eleven host individuals belonging to 52 species were examined. Syringophilid parasitization prevalence (44 hosts of 15 species) ranged from 1.4 to 75% in particular host species. In the collected material, we have found seven quill mite species and among them four are new for science: 1) Aulobia afroanthreptes Skoracki & Zmudzinski sp. nov. from Anthreptes neglectus Neumann, 1922 and Anthreptes longuemarei (Lesson, 1831), both from Tanzania; 2) Syringophiloidus nectariniae Skoracki & Zmudzinski sp. nov. from Hedydipna collaris (Vieillot, 1819) from Tanzania; 3) Aulonastus nectariniphilus Skoracki & Zmudzinski sp. nov. from Anthreptes reichenowi Gunning, 1909 from Tanzania and Nectarinia tacazze (Stanley, 1814) from Ethiopia; and 4) Picobia hedydipna Skoracki & Zmudzinski sp. nov. from Hedydipna collaris from Kenya. Representatives of the genera Aulonastus Kethley, 1970 and Syringophiloidus Kethley, 1970 are recorded on Sunbirds for the first time. The following new host species are given: Cinnyris mariquensis Smith, 1836, C. shelleyi Alexander, 1899 and C. regius Reichenov, 1893, all from Tanzania for Aulobia nectariniae Skoracki & Glowska, 2008; A. neglectus and A. longuemarei, both from Tanzania for Neoaulonastus cinnyris Klimovicova et al., 2014; Cyanomitra verreauxii (Smith, 1832) from Tanzania and Cinnyris chalybeus (Linnaeus, 1766) from South Africa for Picobia oritis Skoracki et al., 2009. Additionally, host-parasite relationships are discussed.

New Wolbachia supergroups detected in quill mites (Acari: Syringophilidae)

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Species of Syringophilopsis quill mites are found in the flight feathers of passerine birds. A phylogeny of species from this genus infecting North American passerines was inferred from the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene and the nuclear 28S ribosomal RNA gene. Based on the large genetic distance among lineages, the genus appears to be composed of several cryptic species. A reconciliation analysis of these mites and their avian hosts indicates a limited, but significant, degree of cophylogeny. However, strict cospeciation is not found to be occurring in this system.

BackgroundAvian malaria parasites are a highly diverse group that commonly infect birds and have deleterious effects on their hosts. Some parasite lineages are geographically widespread and infect many host species in many regions. Bird migration, natural dispersal, invasive species and human-mediated introductions into areas where competent insect vectors are present, are probably the main drivers of the current distribution of avian malaria parasites.MethodsA total of 412 and 2588 wild house sparrows (Passer domesticus) were captured in 2012 and 2013 in two areas of the Iberian Peninsula (central and southern Spain, respectively). Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples; parasite lineages were sequenced and identified by comparing with GenBank and/or MalAvi databases.ResultsThirteen Plasmodium lineages were identified in house sparrows corresponding to three major clades. Five individuals were infected by the African Plasmodium lineage PAGRI02, which has been proposed to actively circulate only in Africa.ConclusionsDespite the low prevalence of PAGRI02 in sparrows in Spain, our results suggest that the area of transmission of this parasite is more widespread than previously thought and covers both Africa and Europe. Further studies of the global distribution of Plasmodium lineages infecting wild birds are required to identify the current transmission areas of these parasites. This is vital given the current scenario of global change that is providing new opportunities for avian malaria transmission into areas where parasites were previously absent.