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Animals
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Diversity and Interactions Between Mites and Vertebrates
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Diversity and Interactions Between Mites and Vertebrates

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecology and Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2025 | Viewed by 2715

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Maciej Skoracki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Morphology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-614 Poznań, Poland
Interests: acarology; mite parasites; quill mites; host-parasite relationships; communities of bird parasites; evolution; ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Bozena Sikora

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Morphology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
Interests: animal parasitology; ecology of parasites; medical entomology; ticks; tick-borne diseases; veterinary parasitology; zoonotic diseases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mites (Acari) represent a highly diverse group of organisms with remarkable adaptability, often forming close symbiotic relationships with vertebrates. These interactions, ranging from commensalism to parasitism, play crucial roles in the health and ecological dynamics of their vertebrate hosts. Despite extensive research, many aspects of these complex relationships remain understudied.

Recent advances in molecular techniques and ecological studies have opened new avenues for understanding the diversity and evolutionary history of mites associated with vertebrates. This has led to the discovery of new species and to re-evaluating the systematics and taxonomy of known taxa. Additionally, these studies have provided insights into the ecological roles and behaviors of mites, which are essential for comprehending their impact on vertebrate hosts.

This Special Issue aims to compile and synthesize data from various research fields to advance our understanding of mite–vertebrate interactions. We invite submission of high-quality original papers focusing on the systematics, distribution, ecology, evolution, behavior, or conservation of mite taxa associated with vertebrates. Reviews and surveys that offer new insights into these research areas are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Maciej Skoracki
Dr. Bozena Sikora
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Acari
  • birds
  • diversity
  • ecology of parasites
  • mammals
  • parasites
  • reptiles
  • symbionts
  • host–parasite interactions

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2177 KiB  
Article
First Detection of Wolbachia in Namibian Bird Ectoparasites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) with a Description of New Quill Mite Species
by Eliza Glowska-Patyniak, Katarzyna Kaszewska-Gilas, Izabella Laniecka, Julia Olechnowicz, Kamila Ostrowska, Wiktoria Dmuchowska, Brian K. Schmidt, Jan Hubert and Artur Trzebny
Animals 2025, 15(1), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15010052 - 28 Dec 2024
Viewed by 745
Abstract
Wolbachia is a common intracellular bacterial genus that infects numerous arthropods and filarial nematodes. In arthropods, it typically acts as a reproductive parasite, leading to various phenotypic effects such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis, feminization, or male-killing. Quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) are a group [...] Read more.
Wolbachia is a common intracellular bacterial genus that infects numerous arthropods and filarial nematodes. In arthropods, it typically acts as a reproductive parasite, leading to various phenotypic effects such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis, feminization, or male-killing. Quill mites (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) are a group of bird parasites that have recently attracted increasing interest due to the detection of unique phylogenetic lineages of endosymbiotic bacteria and potentially pathogenic taxa. Our study used an unbiased 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing approach to examine several populations of Namibian quill mites for the presence of bacteria that could affect their biology. We detected Wolbachia in two mite populations collected from two species of larks. However, we did not find any other endosymbiotic bacteria or any that could be of epidemiological importance. Since the mite taxa we tested were previously unknown to science, we conducted comprehensive morphological and molecular systematic analyses on them. Our research revealed two new quill mite species of the genus Syringophilopsis Kethley, 1970 which parasitize three sub-Saharan alaudids, i.e., Syringophilopsis erythrochlamys sp. n. from the dune lark Calendulauda erythrochlamys (Strickland, HE) and S. christinae sp. n. from the Karoo long-billed lark Certhilauda subcoronata (Smith) and spike-heeled lark Chersomanes albofasciata (de Lafresnaye, NFAA). In addition, we provided the African reed warbler Acrocephalus baeticatus (Vieillot, LJP) as a new host for S. acrocephali Skoracki, 1999. Our study expands the knowledge on parasite diversity and provides new insights into Wolbachia infection among quill mites in Africa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Interactions Between Mites and Vertebrates)
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16 pages, 4788 KiB  
Article
Habitat Type-Based Assemblage and Distribution Prediction of Small Mammals and Chigger Mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) in Chuncheon City, Republic of Korea
by Kiyoon Kim, Jusun Hwang, Kyungmin Kim, Kwangbae Yoon, Daehyun Oh and Yungchul Park
Animals 2024, 14(23), 3433; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14233433 - 27 Nov 2024
Viewed by 796
Abstract
While urbanization leads to habitat loss for medium and large mammals, small mammals can survive in fragmented habitats. As they are known to be the primary hosts of chigger mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) that transmit scrub typhus, their habitat can be considered the primary [...] Read more.
While urbanization leads to habitat loss for medium and large mammals, small mammals can survive in fragmented habitats. As they are known to be the primary hosts of chigger mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) that transmit scrub typhus, their habitat can be considered the primary distribution area for chigger mites. This study aims to examine the distribution of small mammals and chigger mites in four habitat types and analyzed species richness, mean intensity (MI), dominance, and infestation rate (IR). A total of six small mammal species were captured, 76.8% of which were identified as Apodemus agrarius. Species richness of small mammals was highest in forests, followed by ecotones, grasslands, and agricultural lands. Apodemus agrarius accounted for 61% of the captures in forests, 80% in ecotones, 84% in grasslands, and 50% in agricultural lands, highlighting its varying dominance across habitat types. The MI of chigger mites was higher in grasslands (215.41 ± 20.70) and ecotones (171.67 ± 30.33) and lower in forests (76.67 ± 32.11). The MI of chigger mites was higher in the fall than that in the spring, and according to the MaxEnt model, they had a narrow, dense distribution in the fall and a wide distribution in the spring. These results suggest that inducing increased species richness of small mammalian hosts by habitat management and vegetation diversification may contribute to a reduction in the MI of chigger mites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Interactions Between Mites and Vertebrates)
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15 pages, 1740 KiB  
Article
Diversity and Interactions between Picobiine Mites and Starlings
by Bozena Sikora, Jakub Z. Kosicki, Milena Patan, Iva Marcisova, Martin Hromada and Maciej Skoracki
Animals 2024, 14(17), 2517; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14172517 - 29 Aug 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 737
Abstract
The subfamily Picobiinae (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) comprises obligate and permanent parasites of birds found exclusively in the quills of contour feathers. We studied associations of picobiine mites with birds of the family Sturnidae (Aves: Passeriformes) across the Palaearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental, and Oceanian zoogeographical regions. [...] Read more.
The subfamily Picobiinae (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) comprises obligate and permanent parasites of birds found exclusively in the quills of contour feathers. We studied associations of picobiine mites with birds of the family Sturnidae (Aves: Passeriformes) across the Palaearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental, and Oceanian zoogeographical regions. Among the 414 examined bird individuals belonging to 44 species (35.2% of all sturnids), 103 individuals from 24 species (54.5% of examined species) were parasitised by quill mites. The diversity of mites was represented by five species, including one newly described, Picobia malayi Patan and Skoracki sp. n. Statistical analysis of the Picobiinae–Sturnidae bipartite network demonstrated a low connectance value (Con = 0.20) and high modularity, with significant differences in the H2′ specialisation index compared to null model values. The network structure, characterised by four distinct modules, highlighted the specificity and limited host range of the Picobiinae–Sturnidae associations. The distribution of Picobia species among starlings was congruent with the phylogeny of their hosts, with different mites parasitising specific clades of starlings. Additionally, the findings suggest that the social and breeding behaviours of starlings influence quite a high prevalence. Finally, our studies support the validity of museum collections to study these parasitic interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Interactions Between Mites and Vertebrates)
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