Four new species of feather mites belonging to three different genera of the family Pteronyssidae are described from passerine birds of South Africa: Pteroherpus africanus sp, n, from the garden bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus (Desfontaines) (Pycnonotidae), Pteroherpus cysticolae sp. n. from the wing-snapped cisticola Cisticola ayresii Hartlaub (Sylviidae), Pteronyssoides promeropis sp. n. from the Gurney’s sugarbird Promerops gurneyi Verreaux (Promeropidae), and Sturnotrogus creatophorae sp. n. from the wattled starling Creatophora cinerea Menschen (Sturnidae). A brief review of recent publications on the taxonomy of the family Pteronyssidae is given.
Colour traits can be elaborated through sexual selection and have potential to drive reproductive isolation. Male three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) express striking visual signals to attract choosy females during courtship, typically expressed as red carotenoid-based pigmentation on their throat and jaw during the breeding season, along with blue eyes and blue/green flanks. The extent and intensity of red colouration in males have been linked to fitness benefits to females, including body condition, parasite resistance, parental ability and nest defence. In some populations in the Pacific Northwest of North America, male three-spined sticklebacks express melanic nuptial colouration. In these populations, male possess black throats instead of red, and have dark or black bodies. Melanic males are associated with waterbodies that are red-shifted due to the presence of tannins, where the ambient light environment is dominated by long wavelengths. Here we report the first discovery outside North America of melanic populations of threespined sticklebacks on the island of North Uist in the Scottish Hebrides, on the northwest Atlantic coast of Europe. These populations are associated with a hotspot of stickleback morphological diversity and occur in association with red-shifted waterbodies.
A new fossil genus and species of Sinoalidae, Stictocercopis wuhuaensis gen. et sp. n., from the Middle to Upper Jurassic Haifanggou Formation at Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, northeastern China is described, illustrated and its systematic position discussed, on the basis of four complete well-preserved specimens. The new genus distinctly differs from other sinoalids in having relatively complex wing venation and tegmen spots. The intra-specific variation in venation is also discussed. The new discovery increases the palaeodiversity of sinoalids in the early assemblage of the Yanliao biota from the Daohugou beds., Yan-Zhe Fu, Di-Ying Huang., and Obsahuje bibliografii
A new genus and species, Horakia kubani gen. n., sp. n., of Meligethinae from Thailand are described and compared with the closely related genus Cryptarchopria Jelínek. Cryptarchopria infima (Grouvelle) is recorded from the islands Ambon and Seram (Maluku, Indonesia), and its association with flowers of the palm Areca catechu L. is established for the first time. Diagnostic characters of the genus Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979 are discussed, and Kabakovia latipes (Grouvelle, 1908) is recorded from Nepal for the first time.
Three new species, belonging to the newly proposed genus Pseudopicobia gen. n., inhabiting body quill feathers of puffbirds (Piciformes: Bucconidae), are described: P. nonnula sp. n. from Nonnula frontalis (Sclater) in Colombia, P. malacoptila sp. n. from Malacoptila panamensis Lafresnaye in Colombia and P. hapaloptila sp. n. from Hapaloptila castanea (Verreaux) in Ecuador. The new genus differs from morphologically similar genus Picobia Heller, 1878 by the absence of the genital setae, absence of the genital lobes, solenidia φI represented by microsetae, and by the presence of setiform solenidia σI. Syringophilid mites are recorded from birds of this family for the first time.