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In host-symbiont systems, interspecific transmissions create opportunities for host switches, potentially leading to cophylogenetic incongruence. In contrast, conspecific transmissions often result in high host specificity and congruent cophylogenies. In most bird-feather mite systems, conspecific transmission is considered dominant, while interspecific transmission is supposedly rare. However, while mites typically maintain high host specificity, incongruent cophylogenies are common. To explain this conundrum, we quantify the magnitude of conspecific vs. interspecific transmission in the brood parasitic shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis). M. bonariensis lacks parental care, allowing the assessment of the role of horizontal transmission alone in maintaining host specificity. We found that despite frequent interspecific interactions via foster parental care, mite species dispersing via conspecific horizontal contacts are three times more likely to colonize M. bonariensis than mites transmitted vertically via foster parents. The results highlight the previously underappreciated rate of transmission via horizontal contacts in maintaining host specificity on a microevolutionary scale. On a macroevolutionary scale, however, host switches were estimated to have occurred as frequently as codivergences. This suggests that macroevolutionary patterns resulting from rare events cannot be easily generalized from short-term evolutionary trends.

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South American chiggers have historically been poorly studied, and this has continued into present times. Of the 33 genera in the family Leeuwenhoekiidae Womersley, only Odontacarus Ewing and Sasacarus Brennan & Jones have been reported in Peru. Here, we describe a new genus, Peruacarus n. gen., and a new species, Peruacarus anthurium n. sp., parasitizing Koford's grass mouse, Akodon kofordi Myers & Patton, in Peru.

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There are many records of the family Sarcoptidae in bats. The species Notoedres (Notoedres) yunkeri has been reported only once, parasitizing a molossid bat in Panama. In the present study, we expand the occurrence of the species to Brazil.

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The Neotropical chigger genus Boshkerria includes, B. tuberculata and B. punctata, both species parasites mammals in Central and South America. Here, we redescribe B. punctata based on a lectotype and paralectotype designated herein and describe a new species, Boshkerria erwini n. sp., from the green acouchi Myoprocta pratti in Peru. Also, we provide a key to the three species in this genus.

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South American chiggers have historically been poorly studied, and this has continued into present times. Of the 33 genera in the family Leeuwenhoekiidae Womersley, only Odontacarus Ewing and Sasacarus Brennan & Jones have been reported in Peru. Here, we describe a new genus, Peruacarus n. gen., and a new species, Peruacarus anthurium n. sp., parasitizing Koford’s grass mouse, Akodon kofordi Myers & Patton, in Peru.

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The genus Otodectes Canestrini 1894, comprises an unique species, Otodectes cynotis (Hering, 1838), that is responsible for the 'ear mange' in terrestrial carnivores worldwide. Here we report its occurrence in four Brazilian host species from the southeastern region, based on records from Carnivora in the Acari Collection of the Butantan Institute, São Paulo state (IBSP). We also register a case report of a crab-eating fox, Cerdocyon thous L. 1758 found parasitized by this mite species.

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The genus Otodectes Canestrini 1894, comprises an unique species, Otodectes cynotis (Hering, 1838), that is responsible for the ‘ear mange’ in terrestrial carnivores worldwide. Here we report its occurrence in four Brazilian host species from the southeastern region, based on records from Carnivora in the Acari Collection of the Butantan Institute, São Paulo state (IBSP). We also register a case report of a crab-eating fox, Cerdocyon thous L. 1758 found parasitized by this mite species.

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We describe Tuccioglyphus setosus gen. et sp. nov. from the litter of commercially reared laying hens as well as wild birds in Brazil. The new genus Tuccioglyphus presents a mixture of character states between the two conventional subfamilies, Pyroglyphinae and Dermatophagoidinae. Based on this new unusual genus, we discuss character states delimiting these and other major subfamilies of the house dust mite family, Pyroglyphidae, as well as its most important and species-rich genus Dermatophagoides. An additional new genus, Marioglyphus gen. n., is proposed for Hughesiella valerioi Vargas and Smiley. Both Tuccioglyphus and Marioglyphus are related to the genus Hughesiella. A key to pyroglyphid genera of the World is presented.

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BACKGROUND: The common waxbill, Estrilda astrild (L., 1758) (Passeriformes: Estrildidae) is a small passerine bird native to Sub-Saharan Africa that has been introduced into several regions of the world. RESULTS: In the present paper, eight mite species (Acariformes) are reported from this host from Brazil, including three species new to science: Montesauria caravela n. sp., M. conquistador n. sp. (Proctophyllodidae), Trouessartia transatlantica n. sp., T. minuscula Gaud & Mouchet, 1958, T. estrildae Gaud & Mouchet, 1958 (Trouessartiidae), Onychalges pachyspathus Gaud, 1968 (Pyroglyphidae), Paddacoptes paddae (Fain, 1964) (Dermationidae) and Neocheyletiella megaphallos (Lawrence, 1959) (Cheyletidae). Comparative material from Africa was also studied. CONCLUSIONS: These mites represent at least three morpho-ecological groups regarding their microhabitats occupied on the bird: (i) vane mites (Montesauria and Trouessartia on the large wing and tail feathers); (ii) down mites (Onychalges); and (iii) skin mites (Paddacoptes and Neocheyletiella). On one bird individual we found representatives of all eight mite species. Although the common waxbill was introduced to the Neotropical region almost two centuries ago, we demonstrate that it still retains its Old World acarofauna and has not yet acquired any representatives of typical Neotropical mite taxa.

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Host associations of permanent ectoparasitic mite Marsupialges misonnei Fain, 1963 (Acariformes: Psoroptidae: Marsupialginae) are analyzed. This species was first recorded from an ethanol-preserved museum specimen of Caluromys philander (Linnaeus, 1758) (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) originating from French Guiana. We discovered specimens of M. misonnei from both species known in the carnivore genus Nasua (Carnivora: Procyonidae): N. narica (Linnaeus, 1766) from Panama (collected in the field) and N. nasua (Linnaeus, 1766) from Brazil (collected from dry museum specimen). Two alternative hypotheses about an initial host of this mite (bare-tailed woody opossum or coatis) are discussed. We argue that M. misonnei was originally parasitic on Nasua spp. and occasionally contaminated C. philander from these hosts in the collecting process.

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A new species Thyreophagus cracentiseta n. sp. is described morphologically based on adult females, adult homeomorphic and heteromorphic males collected from chicken feed in Brazil. The Thyreophagus species associated with stored food and human habitats are reviewed, and a key to separate species of this genus is provided.

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Based on multilocus phylogenetic analyses (18S, 28S, EF1-α, SRP54, HSP70, CO1, 10 860 nt aligned), we show that the house dust mite subfamily Guatemalichinae is nested within non-onychalgine pyroglyphid mites and forms the sister group to the genus Sturnophagoides (bootstrap support 100, posterior probability 1.0). Because high bootstrap support values may be misleading in the presence of incongruence, we evaluate robustness of the Guatemalichinae+Sturnophagoides clade using: (1) internode certainty indices to estimate the frequency of conflicting bipartitions in maximum-likelihood bootstrap trees, (ii) consensus networks to investigate conflict among different loci; and (iii) statistical hypothesis testing based on information theory, both multi-scale and regular bootstrap. Results suggest that this grouping is very well supported given the data. The molecular analyses were integrated with detailed morphological study using scanning electron and light microscopy. We suggest that the subfamilial status of Guatemalichinae should be reconsidered, and this lineage should be placed within the subfamily Dermatophagoidinae. The latter subfamily is currently accepted in the literature as a monophyletic group but was here inferred as paraphyletic and was not supported by any morphological synapomorphy. The paraphyly involved the most species-rich and medically important genus, Dermatophagoides. Our findings suggest the need for a comprehensive revision of the higher-level relationships of pyroglyphid house dust mites using both DNA sequences and morphology coupled with a broad taxonomic sampling.

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Tachornithoglyphus gen. nov. (Acariformes: Pyroglyphidae) is established for Tachornithoglyphus tachornis (Cruz, Cuervo and Dusbabek, 1984), comb. nov. (transferred from Guatemalichus), collected from nests of the Antillean palm swift, Tachornis phoenicobia (Apodiformes: Apodidae) in Cuba. The new genus differs from the other four genera of the subfamily Guatemalichinae, Guatemalichus Fain and Wharton, 1970, Pottocola Fain, 1971, Fainoglyphus Atyeo and Gaud, 1977, and Capitonocoptes Fain and Gaud, 1984, mainly by having the length of solenidion σ1 of genu I less than one-third that of the segment (vs. solenidion σ1I at least half as long as genu I), by the absence of famulus ε on tarsus I (vs. present), and by coxal apodemes Ia separated from each other and contiguous to the lateral parts of the epigynal arch (vs. posterior tips of apodemes Ia fused to each other and with the median part of the epigynal arch, or separated and contiguous to or fused with the median part of the epigynal arch). A detailed redescription of adults and tritonymphs of T. tachornis is provided.

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The family Listropsoralgidae Fain, 1965 (Acariformes: Sarcoptoidea) is represented by the permanent skin ectoparasites associated with the South American and Australian marsupials (12 species) and the South American rodents of the family Echimyidae (1 species). The phylogenetic relationships of these mites (12 ingroup and 2 outgroup species) are reconstructed on the basis of the maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian analyses (BA) of 76 morphological characters. MP analysis confirmed monophyly of the listropsoralgid genera, the strict consensus of 18 trees generated by MP has the following pattern: Petauralges (Listropsoralgoides, Didelphialges, Listropsoralges) with poor resolution among species of the genus Listropsoralges. The same tree was generated by BA. Both successive and implied weighting strategies resulted in 7 MP trees: Petauralges (Listropsoralgoides (Didelphialges (Listropsoralges))). The relationships between species of the genus Listropsoralges received the poorest resolution: L. caenolestes (L. monodelphis, L. vossi, L. faini, L. brevisetosa (L. thylamys (L. marmosa-L. caluromys))). The host-parasite relationships of listropsoralgids are briefly discussed. The family Listropsoralgidae is taxonomically revised and to date includes 13 species in 4 genera. Six species and one genus are described as new: Listropsoralges brevisetosus sp. n. from Marmosa murina (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) from Peru, Listropsoralges similis sp. n. from Caluromys derbianus (Didelphidae) from Panama, Listropsoralges thylamys sp. n. from Thylamys venustus (Didelphidae) from Bolivia, Listropsoralges vossi sp. n. from Monodelphis domestica (Didelphidae) from Brazil, Listropsoralges caenolestes sp. n. from Caenolestes fuliginosus (Paucituberculata: Caenolestidae) from Ecuador, and Didelphialges metachirus gen. n., sp. n. from Metachirus nudicaudatus (Didelphidae) from Peru. The female of Listropsoralges faini Bochkov and Wauthy, 2009 is described for the first time.

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In collections of ectoparasites from 368 small ground finches, Geospiza fuliginosa, in populations from the islands of Isabela, Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, and Santa Fé, in the Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador, we found 8 species of mites. Four mite species were common on all islands sampled, i.e., Mesalgoides geospizae Mironov and Pérez (Psoroptoididae), Xolalges palmai Mironov and Pérez (Xolalgidae), and 2 new species, Trouessartia geospiza n. sp. (Trouessartiidae) and Proctophyllodes darwini n. sp. (Proctophyllodidae). Four other species were represented by single collections from G. fuliginosa, i.e., Pterodectes atyeoi n. sp. (Proctophyllodidae), Strelkoviacarus sp. (Analgidae), Dermoglyphus sp. (Dermoglyphidae), and Dermanyssus sp. (Dermanyssidae). Authorship of new species names is attributed to the 3 authors who prepared the descriptions (B.M.O.C., J.F., D.L.). Trouessartia geospiza and P. atyeoi were also found on previously collected specimens of other Geospiza species in museum collections. For the 4 common species, we found no differences in prevalence among the 4 island populations, but infection prevalence differed among the 4 species. The mean infection prevalence was high for T. geospizae (89%), moderate for M. geospizae (58%) and X. palmai (44%), and low for P. darwini (26%) in all populations. The feather mite fauna of G. fuliginosa was similar to that of other Geospiza species, and generally related to communities found on other emberizid finches.

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