Turbinoptidae Fain 1957
Creators: name: HALLIDAY, R. B.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Sarcoptiformes
Turbinoptidae

description: Niche partitioning   
Feathers are complex three-dimensional structures that provide a variety of microhabitats for parasites and ectosymbionts. Mironov (1999b) recognised five morphological types of feather mites that exploit different niches within this complex system—(1) down feather mites of the Analgoid morphotype living in soft downy feathers; (2) vane mites of the Proctophylloid morphotype, which occur on the vanes of flight and tail feathers; (3) quill mites of the Dermoglyphoid morphotype, which occur inside the quills of flight and tail feathers; (4) surface skin mites, Epidermoptoid morphotype, on the external surface of the host’s skin; and (5) intraskin mites, Knemidocoptoid morphotype, which live in the epidermis and under skin scales on the bird’s legs. The mites in these groups differ from each other in size and morphology, in the length of body and leg setae; in the degree of sclerotisation, and in the development of specialised attachment organs. Different morphological adaptations are found in these different ecological groups (Dabert & Mironov 1999). The Turbinoptidae may constitute a sixth ecological group, which occurs inside the nasal cavities of a wide range of birds (Pérez 2016; Knee & Galloway 2017).  
 Stefan et al. (2015) reviewed this subject, and examined the flight feathers of Cory’s shearwater Calonectris borealis (Cory, 1881) (Procellariiformes: Procellariidae) as a specific example. These wing feathers carried two species of feather mites, Microspalax brevipes and Zachvatkinia ovata. Microspalax brevipes occurred almost exclusively on the central wing primary feathers, while Z. ovata was found only on the two outermost primaries. Their spatial segregation is accompanied by strong morphological differences in size, shape, and degree of sclerotisation. Both species were shown to feed mainly on uropygial gland oil. The two species occur together and compete for resources in some central primary feathers, where Z. ovata tends to outcompete M. brevipes.   
 A similar pattern was found for two feather mites that occur in the wing feathers of the European blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1758) (Passeriformes: Sylviidae). Proctophyllodes sylviae favoured medial and distal feather sectors, while Trouessartia bifurcata was found on proximal and medial feather sectors, where P. sylviae rarely occurred (Fernández-González et al. 2015).   
 Mites in the family Laminosioptidae Vitzthum, 1931, subfamily Fainocoptinae Lukoschus & Lombert, 1979, are found in the basal follicles of wing and contour feathers. They make tunnels in the walls of quills and feed on non-keratinised quill tissue (Lukoschus & Lombert 1979, 1980; Skoracki et al. 2014, 2021). The subfamily is cosmopolitan and its species have been found on birds from seven orders, suggesting that this relationship dates back to the Mesozoic (Skoracki et al. 2021).   
 Mites that live on the vanes of flight feathers are threatened by the loss of those feathers during moulting. Remarkably, mites appear to detect the imminent loss of a feather and escape from it to a younger feather. This phenomenon was first documented by Dubinin (1951b) and its underlying mechanism is still being explored (Jovani & Serrano 2001; Pap et al. 2006).
description: Published as part of HALLIDAY, R. B., 2023, Prelude to a study of the feather mites of Australia (Acariformes: Astigmata), pp. 1-73 in Zootaxa 5280 (1) on pages 8-9, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5280.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7912198