First Records of Picobiine Mites Associated with Birds-of-Paradise: Can Interspecific Sexual Behaviour of Hosts Play a Role in the Distribution of Quill Mite Parasites?

• Published in: Animals (Basel) 2023-04, Vol.13 (9), p.1509
• Main Authors: Sikora, Bozena, Unsoeld, Markus, Melzer, Roland R, Friedrich, Stefan, Skoracki, Maciej
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acari; Animal feathers; Birds; birds-of paradise; Copulation; Ectoparasites; Females; Identification and classification; Interspecific; Males; Manucodia; Mites; New records; Parasites; Phylogeny; Picobiinae; quill mites; Sexual behavior; Syringophilidae; Zoology
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani13091509

While birds-of-paradise (Passeriformes: Paradisaeidae) are a well-known group of birds, our understanding of their parasites is still limited. This study reports on parasitic quill mites of the subfamily Picobiinae (Acariformes: Syringophilidae), which have never before been recorded on this group of birds. The mite specimens presented in this paper were collected from birds-of-paradise that had been captured in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia in the years 1910-1911 and are now deposited in the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Munich, Germany. Two syringophilid species are described as new to science: (i) sp. n. from the magnificent riflebird , the glossy-mantled manucode , and the crinkle-collared manucode , and (ii) sp. n. from the twelve-wired bird-of-paradise and the lesser bird-of-paradise . We hypothesise that the presence of both picobiine species on phylogenetically unrelated paradisaeids may be caused by the sexual behaviour of these birds, where interspecific copulations may play a role in the switching of parasites between non-closely related host species.