A new genus and new species of feather mite of the family Pterolichidae (Acari: Astigmata) from Gallus gallus (Galliformes: Phasianidae) in the Galpagos Islands

Abstract

Epistomolichus reticulatus (Pterolichidae: Pterolichinae), gen. nov., sp. nov., is described from a domestic chicken Gallus gallus (Aves: Phasianidae) from Santa Cruz Island, Galpagos Islands, Ecuador. Males and females of the new species have a rostrum-like extension above the gnathosoma, a character rarely found in members of the Pterolichidae and other feather mite taxa. Epistomolichus reticulatus is morphologically different from pterolichids associated with other domesticated galliform birds, but resembles pterolichid genera restricted to megapodes (Galliformes: Megapodiidae). The presence of E. reticulatus on a domestic chicken in the Galpagos Islands is enigmatic: it may be either a mite specific to G. gallus inherited from its wild ancestor, or a mite transferred from an unknown galliform species kept in farmyards in South America, which established successfully on domestic chickens.