Acarologia A quarterly journal of acarology, since 1959 Publishing on all aspects of the Acari All information: http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/acarologia/ [email protected] Acarologia is proudly non-profit, with no page charges and free open access Please help us maintain this system by encouraging your institutes to subscribe to the print version of the journal and by sending us your high quality research on the Acari. Subscriptions: Year 2020 (Volume 60): 450 € http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/acarologia/subscribe.php Previous volumes (2010-2018): 250 € / year (4 issues) Acarologia, CBGP, CS 30016, 34988 MONTFERRIER-sur-LEZ Cedex, France ISSN 0044-586X (print), ISSN 2107-7207 (electronic) The digitalization of Acarologia papers prior to 2000 was supported by Agropolis Fondation under the reference ID 1500-024 through the « Investissements d’avenir » programme (Labex Agro: ANR-10-LABX-0001-01) Acarologia is under free license and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons-BY-NC-ND which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Acarologia 53(1): 17–23 (2013) DOI: 10.1051/acarologia/20132078 AVIAN FEATHER MITES (ACARI: ASTIGMATA) OF SAMSUN, TURKEY Ali T. GÜRLER1, Sergey V. MIRONOV2 and Kiraz ERCIYES-YAVUZ3 (Received 24 August 2012; accepted 13 December 2012; published online 29 March 2013) 1 Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey. [email protected] 2 Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Embankment 1, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia. [email protected] 3 Ornithology Research Center, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey. [email protected] ABSTRACT — Feather mites are one of the most important symbionts of birds, living on the feather, inside the quill, and in and on the skin. Approximately 2500 mite species from two superfamilies, Analgoidea and Pterolichoidea, have been described. Here, the feather mite fauna of 196 individuals of 42 bird species from the Kızılırmak delta, Turkey, was inves- tigated. We detected a total of 30 feather mite species belonging to 14 genera and 9 families: Alloptes aythinae (Alloptidae); Analges passerinus, A. spiniger, A. turdinus, Strelkoviacarus quadratus (Analgidae); Avenzoaria totani (Avenzoariidae); Freyana nyrocae (Freyanidae); Grallolichus minutus (Pterolichidae); Dolichodectes edwardsi, Joubertophyllodes modularis, Monojoubertia microphylla, Proctophyllodes cetti, P. clavatus, P. doleophyes, P. lusciniae, P. mesocaulus, P. rubeculinus, P. scolopacinus, P. sylviae, P. troncatus (Proctophyllodidae); Pteronyssoides striatus, Scutulanyssus hirundicola (Pteronyssidae); Temnalges mesalgoides (Psoroptoididae); Trouessartia inexpectata, T. jedliczkai, T. kratochvili, T. microcaudata, T. reguli, T. rubecula and T. trouessarti (Trouessartiidae). These feather mite species are all first records for Turkey. New host association records are also noted: Analges spiniger on Cettia cetti, and Dolichodectes edwardsi on C. cetti and Sylvia melanocephala. KEYWORDS — Analgoidea; Biodiversity; Birds; Host associations; Kızılırmak delta; Pterolichoidea INTRODUCTION Proctor, 2003; Proctor and Owens, 2000). Most of these mites may be considered as commensals be- Birds harbor numerous and diverse mites (Acari) cause they feed on the oil produced by uropygyal that inhabit the skin, nostrils, respiratory pas- glands, but several families are true parasites feed- sages and that dwell in the plumage. Some taxo- ing on the pith of the calamus or on epidermal tis- nomic groups of acariens are important and dan- sues. Feather mites are highly specialized morpho- gerous parasites of wild and domestic birds feed- logically and ecologically to particular microhabi- ing on blood (Ixodidae, Argasidae, Dermanyssi- tats on their hosts. Four main types of microha- dae). Feather mites (Acari: Astigmata) are the most bitats occupied by feather mites are usually recog- numerous group of mites permanently inhabiting nized: flight and tail feathers with firm vanes, down birds. The approximately 2500 described species and contour feathers of the body, interior spaces are arranged into 34-38 families, occur through- of quills, and the skin surface. Some families are out the world, and have been recorded from all even represented by endoparasites: mites of the fa- avian orders (Gaud and Atyeo, 1996; Mironov and mily Turbinoptidae inhabit nasal cavities and mites Proctor, 2008; Mironov et al., 2012, OConnor, 2009; of the family Knemidocoptidae burrow under the http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/acarologia/ 17 ISSN 0044-586-X (print). ISSN 2107-7207 (electronic) Gürler A.T. et al. FIGURE 1: The Kızılırmak Delta, Samsun, Turkey. The red point indicates the capture site of examined birds. skin. (Dabert and Mironov, 1999). dunes to reed beds, and from mud flats to marshes, it harbors a high diversity of wildlife. The biodi- To date, the biodiversity of feather mites has versity of this area is also reflected in birds. Three been most thoroughly explored in Europe. Inves- hundred forty-one bird species are recorded in the tigations have been carried out in more than 15 Kızılırmak delta which can be observed during countries during the second half of the 20th century breeding, wintering and migration seasons. Some (for major references see Mironov, 1996, 1997). In of these species have only been recorded in this contrast, there are a few studies of feather mites area of Turkey and some are considered to be en- in Turkey, and currently there is only a total of dangered (Barı¸s et al., 2010). The Kızılırmak delta eight feather mite species recorded from this coun- is an important stopover area for migratory bird try: Ptiloxenus major (Megnin and Trouessart, 1884), species before and after they cross the Black Sea. A Pseudolichus solutocurtus (Dubinin, 1956), and Der- large number of waders and waterbirds winter in moglyphus sp. from partridges (Aksın, 2010; Ak- the delta. Due to these mentioned features, the delta sın and Erdo˘gmu¸s,2005), Xoloptes claudicans (Robin, has been selected as one of the Ramsar sites (ie, in- 1877), Periexocaulus anacanthus (Gaud and Mouchet, ternationally recognized wetland of importance) in 1959) and Megninia ginglymura (Megnin, 1877) from Turkey. quails (Aksın, 2011), Freyana anatina (Koch, 1844) from ducks (Aksın, 2007) and Chauliacia canarisi (Gaud and Atyeo, 1967) from the Alpine swift (Pe- terson et al., 1980). In the present paper, we report the presence of The Kızılırmak delta is one of the biggest (560 thirty feather mite species recorded during a sur- km2) and best preserved wetland areas along the vey of birds migrating through the Kızılırmak delta. Black Sea coast of Turkey. Due to its various habitats All species are new records for the avian fauna of ranging from beaches to flooded forests, from sand Turkey. 18 Acarologia 53(1): 17–23 (2013) MATERIALS AND METHODS DISCUSSION The study was conducted between March 2009 and Most examined host species in the present study May 2010 in a natural site in the Kızılırmak delta are passerines, therefore the discussion of recorded (Turkey, Samsun), which is located on the Black Sea fauna is focused here on mites associated with this coast at 41°36’N and 36°03’E (Figure 1). The birds group of birds. Feather mites collected from 21 of 30 were captured with mist-nets during the migration examined passerine species (Table 1) belong to four season in spring and autumn by a study group of families, Analgidae, Proctophyllodidae, Psoroptoi- the Ornithology Research Center (Ondokuz Mayıs didae and Trouessartiidae. The families Procto- University) for ringing. While ringing, 196 captured phyllodidae and Trouessartiidae are predominately birds (Table 1) were searched visually over the en- associated with passerines, while members of the tire body for the presence of feather mites living on families Analgidae and Psoroptoididae are known the plumage and skin of the host. Of the 42 bird from various orders of birds (Gaud and Atyeo, 1996; species, 24 were migratory, 14 were partially migra- Proctor, 2003). tory (some populations are resident and some mi- The family Analgidae is represented by three gratory) and 4 were resident (Table 1). In the case species of the genus Analges Nitzsch, 1818 (Anal- where mites were present on the wing feathers (pri- ginae) and one species of the genus Strelkoviacarus maries, secondaries and tertialis), a single feather or Dubinin, 1953 (Anomalginae). The former genus part of a feather bearing mites was taken off and is specific to passerines and its species are usually preserved in 70 % ethanol for subsequent investi- oligoxenous (Mironov, 1985), meaning that they are gation. Feather samples were brought to the la- associated with several host species of one genus or boratory and examined under a stereo microscope of a few closely related genera. Analges spiniger was (Nikon SMZ 1500), and mites were mounted on found on three hosts of the family Sylviidae: Sylvia slides with Hoyer’s medium (Evans, 1992). Mite atricapilla, S. borin and S. communis and on Cettia identifications were performed using a compound cetti (Cettidae). Strelkoviacarus quadratus, found here microscope (Nikon Eclipse 80i). All feather mites only on S. atricapilla, is a polyxenous species known identified in the present study were deposited at from various passerines and piciformes (Mironov, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Ondokuz Mayıs 1996).