Dicrurobius monacrotrichus ( Gaud, 1952 )

Mironov, Sergey V. & Wauthy, Georges, 2005, Two new species of the feather mite genus Dicrurobius Mironov, 2001 (Acari: Astigmata: Pteronyssidae) from drongos (Passeriformes: Dicruridae) in Africa, Zootaxa 1103 (1103), pp. 27-39 : 36-37

3. Dicrurobius monacrotrichus ( Gaud, 1952) ( Figs. 4b, 5c, d, 6b)

Pteronyssus monacrotrichus Gaud, 1952: 101 , Fig. 8; Gaud & Mouchet, 1959: 523; Gaud & Till, 1961: 278.

Pteroherpus monacrotrichus: Faccini & Atyeo, 1981: 49 .

Dicrurobius monacrotrichus: Mironov, 2001: 7 , Fig. 2, 3.

Material examined

Lectotype male, 3 male and 4 female paratypes ( MRAC 180 171) ex Dicrurus forficatus Linnaeus, 1766 , Madagascar, Tamatave province, Mahanoro , October 1951, J. Gaud; 4 male and 3 female paratypes ( MRAC 180 172), same data; 2 males and 2 females ( MRAC 180 173), same host, Madagascar , Fenerive , August 1962, coll. unknown; 1 male and 1 female ( UGA 9276 AMNH 413 712), same host, Madagascar , Majunga province , Mt. d’Ambre , 22 October 1930, A.L. Rand and R. Archbold; 2 males ( UGA 9283 AMNH 671 789), ex Dicrurus forficatus potior (Bangs et Penard, 1922) , Comoro Islands , Island Anjouan , 19 September 1906, P.N.K. Naidoo. 6 males and 3 females ( MRAC 180 181, 180 182, 2 slides) ex Dicrurus adsimilis , SOUTH AFRICA, Zululand , St. Lucia , October 1965, F. Zumpt; 1 male and 4 females ( MRAC 180 183), same host, SOUTH AFRICA, Cape province, East London , 30 October 1966, coll. unknown; 2 males ( YSU 2157 AMNH 671 622) ex Dicrurus a. adsimilis , [ TANZANIA], Tanganyika , Kilimanjaro Dist., Moshi , 6 July 1920, coll. unknown; 3 males and 5 females ( YSU 2162 AMNH 671 690) ex Dicrurus a. divaricatus ( Lichtenstein , 1823), ETHIOPIA, Detschambassa in Bunescho , 22 April 1901, O. Neumann; 1 female ( UGA 1904 USNM 128 722) ex Dicrurus aldabranus (Ridgway, 1893) , North of Madagascar , Aldabra Island , 2 October 1892, W.L. Abbot.

Diagnosis

Differs from other known species by following combination of features: in males, posterior margin of prodorsal shield is noticeably concave ( Fig. 4b), the distance between this and hysteronotal shield along midline is 30–40, transventral sclerite is 1.5–2 times wider than long, and incision in terminal membrane is poorly expressed and does not extend to level of setae ps1 ( Fig. 5c, d); in females, hysteronotal shield is split into main body and pygidial sclerite by narrow transverse band of soft striated tegument, anterior part of the main body of hysteronotal shield without lateral extensions ( Fig. 6b).

Remarks

Dicrurobius monacrotrichus was originally described from the crested drongo Dicrurus forficatus , distributed in Madagascar ( Gaud, 1952); subsequently it was reported from the shining drongo, Dicrurus atripennis , and the fork­tailed drongo, Dicrurus adsimilis , in Cameroon ( Gaud & Mouchet, 1959; Gaud & Till, 1961). Re­examination of the materials studied by these authors showed that the specimens from Cameroon actually represent two new mite species, which we described above, D. alatus and D. cameroonensis , respectively. Nevertheless, we have found that D. monacrotrichus does occur on Dicrurus adsimilis , but in another part of its range in continental Africa ( Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa). In relation to that, it is interestingly to point out that two vicariate Dicrurobius species are associated with the fork­tailed drongo in Africa: D. monacrotrichus is recorded from north­eastern, eastern and southern parts of its range in Africa, while D. cameroonensis is apparently restricted to populations in western part of Central Africa ( Cameroon).