Feather mites of the genus Trouessartia Canestrini (Acariformes: Trouessartiidae) from swallows (Passeriformes: Hirundinidae) in Canada.

Abstract

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.