New feather mites of the genera Aniacarus and Aniibius (Acariformes: Pterolichidae) from two cuckoo species (Cuculiformes: Cuculidae) in Brazil
Author
Mironov, Sergey V.
Author
Hernandes, Fabio A.
Author
Pedroso, Luiz Gustavo A.
text
Zootaxa
2015
3937
1
103
126
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3937.1.5
d2960dfd-55ed-4854-bb5a-050fc70f20a0
1175-5326
237756
29DC6BA8-7611-4C87-A1C0-CB4AB597F1F8
Genus
Aniacarus
Gaud and Atyeo, 1990
Type
species:
Aniacarus mexicanus
Gaud and Atyeo, 1990
, by original designation.
The genus was established for a single species,
Aniacarus mexicanus
Gaud and Atyeo, 1990
, from the Groovebilled
Ani
Crotophaga sulcirostris
in
Mexico
(
Gaud & Atyeo 1990
). The feature that most clearly differentiates
Aniacarus
from the the similar genus
Coccylichus
Gaud, 1966
from African cuckoos of the genus
Cercococcyx
Cabanis (Cuculinae)
, is a relatively wide and short idiosoma in both sexes (length/width ratio 1.4–1.8
vs
2 in
Coccylichus
) and presence of an entire hysteronotal shield in females (vs transversely split at level of setae
e1
) (
Gaud 1966
;
Gaud & Atyeo 1990
,
1996
). The latter authors (
Gaud & Atyeo 1990
) also mentioned setiform setae
c3
among the features that discriminate between
Aniacarus
and
Coccylichus
; however, our study shows that the state of this character varies within the genus
Aniacarus
from filiform to spiculiform and narrowly lanceolate. In the present paper we describe four new species of
Aniacarus
found on two species of cuckoos of the subfamily
Crotophaginae
in
Brazil
. It is interesting to note that three out of four species described herein are associated with the same cuckoo host,
Guira guira
, and can inhabit one bird individual simultaneously.