| abstract | A systematic review of the feather mite genus Pteronyssoides Robin, 1877 is given, including an improved diagnosis of the genus and subgenera, description of 14 new species from African passerines, cladistic analysis of the genus and a brief discussion of associations with passeriform hosts. New species are described as follows Pteronyssoides emberizae sp.n. from Emberiza flaviventris (Emberizidae), P. eupasseris sp.n. from Passer griseus (Ploceidae), P. euplecti sp.n. from Euplectes hordaceus (Ploceidae), P. faini sp.n., from Lonchura bicolor poensis (Estrildidae), P. foudiae sp.n. from Foudia madagascariensis (Ploceidae), P. microscutatus from Euplectes axillaris (Ploceidae), P. ovoscutatus sp.n. from Cyanomitra verticalis (Nectariniidae), P. oxylabis from Oxylabes madagascariensis (Timaliidae), P. plocei sp.n. from Ploceus superciliaris (Ploceidae), P. pytiliae sp.n. from Pytilia melba belli (Estrildidae), P. queleae sp.n. from Quelea quelea (Ploceidae), P. serini sp.n. from Serinus sulphuratus (Fringillidae), P. triangularis sp.n. from Parus caeruleus (Paridae), and P. viduinus sp. n. from Vidua macroura (Vicuidae).
Maximum parsimony analysis based on 45 morphological characters confirmed current taxonomic subdivision of the genus into two subgenera, Pteronyssoides s.str. and Holonyssoides Mironov, 1993, and revealed three species groups within the nominal subgenus (nectariniae, ovoscutatus, and parinus). Two contrasting morphological tendencies are displayed by the subgenera. The main tendency in Holonyssoides is strengthening of dorsal shields in both sexes, while three different lineages of Pteronyssoides s.str. show a trend to reduced hysteronotal shield in females.
Based on the phylogenetic relationships between mite species and their currently known distribution among passerines, and taking into consideration phylogenetic relationships between higher passerine taxa, it is hypothesized that the genus Pteronyssoides originated on the ancestors the parvorder Passerida. Owing to subsequent cospeciation, its representatives are widely dispersed on two major passeridan lineages (Passeroidea and Sylvoidea); due to host-switching events in the course of evolution, these mites also colonized tits (Paridae) within Passerida and two phylogenetically distant lineages (Dicruridae and Paradisaeidae) belonging to the core Corvoidea (parvorder Corvida) |