Mimicalges Atyeo and Gaud, 1971

Hernandes, Fabio Akashi, 2013, Three new proctophyllodine feather mites (Acari: Proctophyllodidae) from passerines in Brazil (Aves: Passeriformes), Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 48 (3 - 4), pp. 185-202 : 191

Genus Mimicalges Atyeo and Gaud, 1971

Type species

Proctophyllodes (Alloptes) pteronyssoides Trouessart, 1885

The only species included in this genus so far, M. pteronyssoides (Trouessart) , has been found on Pipra erythrocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) and on Chiroxiphia caudata (Shaw and Nodder, 1793) (Pipridae) . The previous record of Mimicalges sp. in Brazil, on the Helmeted Manakin Antilophia galeata (Lichtenstein, 1823) (Pipridae) ( Kanegae et al. 2008) is herein identified as M. pteronyssoides .

Atyeo and Gaud (1971) mentioned for M. pteronyssoides that the femora and genua are fused. However, this is not seen in the new species, which has those segments connected only by a small dorsal portion. Male legs IV are longer and stronger than legs III. The females of this genus, hitherto unknown, are described for the first time. Although Atyeo and Gaud (1971) had mentioned that a few proctophyllodine females of unknown affinities were found in the same study skin as males of M. pteronyssoides , they were sceptical that those females might belong to the same species as the aforementioned males, since the length of the primary duct of the spermatheca was considerably shorter than the length of male aedeagus. Atyeo and Gaud (1971) also mentioned that they found M. pteronyssoides and Diproctophyllodes dielytra (Trouessart) in the same study skin – Pipra aureola (Linnaeus, 1758) ; in the present study, D. dielytra was also found co-inhabiting the same host – Neopelma pallescens – as the new species of Mimicalges herein described.