The Proctophyllodidae are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of the Acarina (

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...

)

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Astigmata Astigmatina is a clade of mites in the order Sarcoptiformes. Astigmata has been ranked as an order or suborder in the past, but was lowered to the unranked clade Astigmatina of the clade Desmonomatides (synonym Desmonomata) in the order. Astigm ...

. They contain many

feather mite Feather mites are the members of diverse mite Superfamily (zoology), superfamilies: * superorder Acariformes ** Psoroptidia *** Analgoidea *** Freyanoidea *** Pterolichoidea * superorder Parasitiformes ** Dermanyssoidea They are ectoparasites on ...

s. The Alloptidae and Trouessartiidae were in earlier times included here as

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zool ...

. Proctophyllodidae females are extremely similar among

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

and sometimes even hard to assign to a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, while males vary much more. Two subfamilies are generally recognized, the Proctophyllodinae and the Pterodectinae. The main difference is that the female pregenital

apodeme An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the internal organs, in contrast to an internal endoskeleton (e.g. that of a human) wh ...

and epimerites IV are separated, while in the latter they are connected and form a distinct structure.

General

Feather mites (subclass

Acarina Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as ea ...

, family Proctophyllodinae) are ectoparasites that live in between the barbs of feathers and are found on nearly every bird species currently described. It was previously believed that these mites had a

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

relationship with their hosts but it is now thought that most species are more

commensal Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction (symbiosis) in which members of one species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed. This is in contrast with mutualism, in which both organisms benefit f ...

with their hosts. Morphological studies have provided strong evidence for this with feather mite mouthparts being identified as unstructured for biting on solid material. Instead it is suggested that they feed on oils and fats secreted from the

uropygial gland The uropygial gland, informally known as the preen gland or the oil gland, is a bilobed sebaceous gland possessed by the majority of birds used to distribute the gland's oil through the plumage by means of Preening (bird), preening. It is locate ...

as well as pollen, fungus and dead epidermis tissue that is trapped within it.

Morphology

Feather mites are streamlined; strongly dorsoventrally flattened with short legs and well-developed ambulacra that act as a hold-fast organ. Being of the order

, they have biting mouhtparts with a very small gnathosoma compared to body size.

Transmission

Morphological constraints suggest that adult mites are nearly immobile. Transmission of mites has been shown to occur largely between direct interactions between parents and offspring and possibly during gregarious interactions between flock individuals. Observations of restricted species contamination on

Falconiformes The order Falconiformes () is represented by the extant family Falconidae, Falconidae (falcons and caracaras) and a handful of enigmatic Paleogene species. Traditionally, the other bird of prey families New World vulture, Cathartidae (New World v ...

have supported this observation. Birds of prey have the greatest chance of cross contamination through interactions with their prey and yet have very stable acarofauna groups are found exclusively on those species. The

European cuckoo The cuckoo, common cuckoo, European cuckoo or Eurasian cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant ...

, a

brood parasite Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest ...

, has also been found to have their own species of mite even though the parents and offspring never interact (but see Lindholm ''et al.'', 1998)

Selected genera

Proctophyllodinae * '' Allodectes'' Gaud & Berla, 1963 – tentatively placed here * '' Anisophyllodes'' Atyeo, 1967 * '' Bradyphyllodes'' Atyeo and Gaud, 1970 * '' Diproctophyllodes'' Atyeo and Gaud, 1968 * '' Favettea'' Trouessart, 1915 * '' Hemipterodectes'' Berla, 1959 * '' Joubertophyllodes'' Atyeo & Gaud, 1971 * '' Monojoubertia'' Radford, 1950 * '' Nycteridocaulus'' Atyeo, 1966 * '' Philepittalges'' Atyeo, 1966 * '' Proctophyllodes'' Robin, 1868 * '' Ptyctophyllodes'' Atyeo, 1967 * '' Tanyphyllodes'' Atyeo, 1966 Pterodectinae * '' Afroproterothrix'' Mironov & Wauthy, 2010 * '' Amerodectes'' Valim & Hernandes, 2010 * '' Anisodiscus'' Gaud & Mouchet, 1957 * '' Dolichodectes'' * '' Megalodectes'' * '' Montesauria'' Oudemans, 1905 * '' Neodectes'' * '' Pedanodectes'' * '' Proterothrix'' Gaud, 1968 * '' Pterodectes'' Robin, 1877 – possibly not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

* '' Syntomodectes'' * '' Toxerodectes'' * '' Trochilodectes'' * '' Xynonodectes''

General

Morphology

Transmission

Selected genera

References

Further reading