A new genus of quill mites of the family Syringophilidae (Acari: Cheyletoidea) associated with mousebirds (Aves: Coliiformes)

Authors:

• Maciej Konrad Skoracki,
• Markus Unsoeld,
• Michał Ozminski

Abstract

A new monotypic genus Colisyringophilus n. g. is established for C. tanzanicus n. sp., quill mites parasitising two mouse bird species from Tanzania, Colius striatus Gmelin and Urocolius macrourus (Linnaeus). This new genus is closely related to Neoaulobia Fain, Bochkov & Mironov, 2000, but differs from it by the following features: the stylophore is rounded posteriorly, the propodonotal shield is reduced to triangular sclerite bearing bases of setae vi and ve, the hysteronotal shield is absent, legs I are longer than legs II, and apodemes I are distinctly elongated. This is the first record of syringophilid mites from hosts of the order Coliiformes. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.