ABSTRACT
Ten new species of the feather mite genus Trouessartia Canestrini, 1899 (Analgoidea: Trouessartiidae) are described from various passerines of the superfamily Passeroidea in Georgia: Trouessartia americana sp. n. from Setophaga americana (Linnaeus), T. helmitheros sp. n. from Helmitheros vermivorum (Gmelin, JF), T. mniotilta sp. n. from Mniotilta varia (Linnaeus), T. pensylvanica sp. n. from Setophaga pensylvanica (Linnaeus) (type host) and S. palmarum (Gmelin, JF), T. ruticilla sp. n. from S. ruticilla (Linnaeus), T. seiurus sp. n. from Seiurus aurocapilla (Linnaeus), T. tigrina sp. n. from Setophaga tigrina (Gmelin, JF) (Parulidae), T. passerinae sp. n. from Passerina caerulea (Linnaeus) (type host) and P. cyanea (Linnaeus), T. ciris sp. n. from P. ciris (Linnaeus) (Cardinalidae), and T. spizellae sp. n. from Spizella passerina (Bechstein) (Passerellidae). Based on a specific combination of morphological characters, all new species and six previously known species are arranged into a new species group capensis in the genus Trouessartia. The most important diagnostic characters of this species group include: in both sexes, the dorsal hysterosomal apertures are absent; in males, the postgenital plaque is well developed and genital setae g have cylindrical articulation rings; in females, the external copulatory tube is straight, stylet- or finger-like, and situated on the margin of the interlobar membrane, and the head of spermatheca has a semi-ovate extension without indentations. A key to all species referred to the capensis group is provided and host associations of this group with passerines are summarized and briefly discussed. It is hypothesized that this species group originated on the ancestors of New World nine-primaried oscines (Emberizoidea) and diverged in close relation with this group of hosts.
Subject(s)
Bird Diseases , Mites , Passeriformes , Songbirds , Animals , Female , Georgia , MaleABSTRACT
Seven species of the feather mite genus Trouessartia Canestrini, 1899 (Astigmata: Trouessartiidae) have been recorded on swallows and martins (Passeriformes: Hirundinidae) in Manitoba (Canada). Of them, five are described as new species: Trouessartia ampulicaudata sp. n. and T. petrochelidon sp. n. from the American cliff swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot), T. bochkovi sp. n. from the tree swallow Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot), and T. cryptocaudata sp. n. and T. progne sp. n. from the purple martin Progne subis (Linnaeus). A new species group stelgidopteryx, incorporating Trouessartia species living on hirundinids of the genera Progne, Tachycineta and Stelgidopteryx, is established. Renewed diagnoses of four Trouessartia species groups (appendiculata, crucifera, minutipes, and stelgidopteryx) restricted to hirundinids and a key to species recorded so far and potentially expected on swallows of North America are proposed. Host associations of Trouessartia species with swallows in North America are briefly discussed.
Subject(s)
Bird Diseases , Mite Infestations , Mites , Swallows , Animals , Canada , Manitoba , North AmericaABSTRACT
A new species of the feather mite genus Trouessartia (Trouessartiidae) is described from the Large NiltavaNiltavagrandis (Blyth) (Passeriformes, Muscicapidae) in Northeast India (Meghalaya, Jaintia Hills, Shnongrim village). Trouessartianiltavae Constantinescu, sp. n. is morphologically closely related (no phylogenetic meaning) to T.bulligera Gaud, 1968 from Clytorhynchushamlini (Mayr) (Passeriformes: Monarchidae), sharing in males a unique character within the genus, by having setae e on legs IV hemispheroid, with spine-shaped apex. Males of the new species have the prodorsal shield without ornamentation, the prohysteronotal shield and lobar shield connected, and the terminal cleft parallel sided. Females have the posterior half of the hysteronotal shield ornamented with large ovate lacunae in central area and small elliptical lacunae marginally. To the morphological description of this new feather mite species we added sequence data on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene fragment (COI). The phylogenetic relationships between Trouessartia species are briefly discussed.
ABSTRACT
Host-shift speciation and cospeciation are the two major processes driving symbiont macroevolutionary diversification. Cospeciation is expected to be frequent in vertically transmitted and host-specific symbionts, and leads to congruent host-symbiont phylogenies. However, the cophylogenetic dynamics of many groups of highly specialized host-specific symbionts is largely unstudied. Thus, the relevance of cospeciation vs. host-shift speciation remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated this question by performing the largest cophylogenetic study of feather mites to date, using both distance and event-based cophylogenetic methods. For these analyses, we inferred phylogenies based on all protein coding genes of the mitochondrial genome of Proctophyllodes and Trouessartia feather mite species living on European passerine birds. Results show high incongruence among bird and feather mite phylogenies, because of extensive host-switching. We conclude that host-shift speciation, rather than cospeciation, may be the main driver of symbiont diversification even for highly specialized symbionts with low host-switching potential.