Abstract
Simple SummaryMites of the family Syringophilidae (Acariformes: Cheyletoidea)—also called quill mites—are permanent and highly specialized ectoparasites of birds living inside the calamus of the various types of the feathers. In the present paper, we conducted a study focused on prevalence, host specificity, networks, and phylogeny of the syringophilid mites parasitizing on pigeon and doves (Columbiformes). We postulate that the Syringophilidae mites and Columbiformes bird system represent a model which can be used in a broader study of the relationship between hosts and parasites.The quill mites belonging to the family Syringophilidae (Acari: Prostigmata: Cheyletoidea) are obligate ectoparasites of birds. They inhabit different types of the quills, where they spend their whole life cycle. In this paper, we conducted a global study of syringophilid mites associated with columbiform birds. We examined 772 pigeon and dove individuals belonging to 112 species (35% world fauna) from all zoogeographical regions (except Madagascan) where Columbiformes occur. We measured the prevalence (IP) and the confidence interval (CI) for all infested host species. IP ranges between 4.2 and 66.7 (CI 0.2–100). We applied a bipartite analysis to determine host–parasite interaction, network indices, and host specificity on species and whole network levels. The Syringophilidae–Columbiformes network was composed of 25 mite species and 65 host species. The bipartite network was characterized by a high network level specialization H2′ = 0.93, high nestedness N = 0.908, connectance C = 0.90, and high modularity Q = 0.83, with 20 modules. Moreover, we reconstructed the phylogeny of the quill mites associated with columbiform birds on the generic level. Analysis shows two distinct clades: Meitingsunes + Psittaciphilus, and Peristerophila + Terratosyringophilus.
Highlights
Knowing how many species inhabit Earth is among the most fundamental questions in science [1]
A total of 772 individuals of pigeons and doves and belonging to 29 genera and 112 species were examined for the presence of quill mites belonging to the family Syringophilidae
We believe that this study focused on host specificity, prevalence, networks and evolutionary aspect has a particular role to identify the relation between host and parasites
Summary
Knowing how many species inhabit Earth is among the most fundamental questions in science [1]. Many estimates of global species diversity of parasites are based on extrapolations of patterns of host specificity [2]; a contrast between the proportion that parasites comprise in local and global faunas suggests that parasites are most probably less host specific and more widespread than local scale studies suggest [6]. To get over such difficulties, it has been increasingly recognized that biotic interactions matter at local and at regional, continental, or global spatial scales [7]. Such analyses give a visual graph links between two trophic levels, but they offer an opportunity to quantify indices such as parasite–host specificity and species richness in hosts, and they give a topological description of connectance, nestedness, or modularity [8,9]
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