TAXONOMIC NOTES ON FEATHER MITE SPECIES (ACARIFORMES: ANALGOIDEA) DESCRIBED BY ADOLF EDUARD GRUBE

Abstract

The study presents the results of our re-investigation of feather mite species described by A.  E. Grube in 1859 in the genus Dermaleichus Koch, 1841. Grube’s paper has been overlooked by most of the 19th and 20th century acarologists. Based on the study of the syntypes of four Dermaleichus species described by the above author, we provide taxonomic comments on them and new synonymies. We conclude the names of three species are valid (senior) synonyms, while one name is a junior synonym. Alloptes (Alloptes) tringae (Grube, 1859) comb. n. (Alloptidae) from Calidris alpina (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae) is a new senior synonym of Alloptes (s. str.) crassipes (Canestrini, 1878) syn. n.; Analges tergisetis (Grube, 1859) comb. n. (Analgidae) from Pica pica (Passeriformes: Corvidae) is a new senior synonym of Analges corvinus Robin, 1877 syn. n.; Picalgoides caudilobus (Grube, 1959) comb. n. (Psoroptoididae) from Dendrocoptes medius (Piciformes: Picidae) is an older synonym of Dermaleichus picimajoris Buchholz, 1869, D. picipubescentis Packard, 1869, Analges serratilobus Giebel, 1871 and Analges socialis Robin, 1877 (synonymized by Oudemans in 1939, but overlooked by subsequent researchers). Dermaleichus albicillae Grube, 1859 syn. n. from Haliaeetus albicilla (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae) is a junior synonym of Pandionacarus fuscus (Nitzsch, 1818) (Avenzoariidae), a common parasite of Pandion haliaetus (Accipitriformes: Pandionidae).