﻿Two new species of feather mites (Acariformes, Astigmata) from the black-tailed godwit, Limosalimosa (Charadriiformes, Scolopacidae), in Korea.

Sergey V Mironov,Gi-Sik Min,Yeong-Deok Han

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1088.80307

Abstract

Two new species of feather mites are described from two individuals of the black-tailed godwit, Limosalimosa (Linnaeus, 1758), in Korea: Alloptes (Conuralloptes) neolimosaesp. nov. (Analgoidea, Alloptidae) and Phyllochaetalimosaesp. nov. (Pterolichoidea, Syringobiidae). Males of A. (C.) neolimosaesp. nov. are distinguished from A. (C.) limosae in having the hysteronotal shield with a straight anterior margin, setae h2 enlarged and slightly flattened in the basal half, and the terminal lamella monotonously transparent without sclerotized patches; females differ in having legs IV with ambulacral discs extending to or slightly beyond the level of setae f2. The discovery of P.limosaesp. nov. represents the first record of the feather mite genus Phyllochaeta on godwits of the genus Limosa Brisson, 1760 (Scolopacidae, Limosinae). Males of P.limosaesp. nov. are distinguished from P.secunda in having the terminal cleft semi-ovoid with a length-to-width ratio of 1.7, and the terminal membranes with 15 or 16 finger-shaped denticles; females differ in having the hysteronotal shield bearing faint longitudinal striations in the posterior third and lacking lacunae, and setae c1 situated posterior to the level of setae c2. Additionally, we obtained partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene from A. (C.) neolimosaesp. nov. and estimated genetic distances from 10 other Alloptes species based on comparisons of COI sequences.

Highlights

Feather mites comprise two superfamilies (Analgoidea and Pterolichoidea) of astigmatan mites within the order Sarcoptiformes and are permanent parasites or commensal ectosymbionts that colonize particular microhabitats in the plumage and on the skin of birds (Gaud and Atyeo 1996; Dabert and Mironov 1999; Proctor 2003)
This bird is subdivided into four subspecies [L. l bohaii Zhu, Piersma, Verkuil & Conklin, 2020, L. l. islandica Brehm, 1931, L. l. limosa (Linnaeus, 1758), and L. l. melanuroides Gould, 1846] based on morphological and genetic characteristics, and is recognized by classification authority such as the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) (Gill et al 2021; Zhu et al 2021)
12 feather mite species have been reported from L. limosa, among which seven are specific to this species or to the genus Limosa Brisson, 1760 (Bedford 1936; Dubinin 1951, 1956; Gaud 1958, 1972, 1973; Gaud and Till 1961; Gaud and Mouchet 1963; Vasyukova and Mironov 1990, 1991; Dabert and Ehrnsberger 1999; Dabert 2003)

Summary

Introduction

Feather mites comprise two superfamilies (Analgoidea and Pterolichoidea) of astigmatan mites within the order Sarcoptiformes and are permanent parasites or commensal ectosymbionts that colonize particular microhabitats in the plumage and on the skin of birds (Gaud and Atyeo 1996; Dabert and Mironov 1999; Proctor 2003).

Results

Conclusion