Ten new species of Myrsidea Waterston, 1915 parasitic on members of the avian families Formicariidae, Thraupidae, Tyrannidae, Troglodytidae and Icteridae are described herein. They and their type hosts are M. isacantha sp. n. ex Chamaeza nobilis Gould, M. circumsternata sp. n. ex Formicarius colma Boddaert (Formicariidae); M. cacioppoi sp. n. ex Lanio fulvus (Boddaert), M. brasiliensis sp. n. ex Tangara chilensis (Vigors), M. saviti sp. n. ex Tangara schrankii (Spix) (Thraupidae), M. rodriguesae sp. n. ex Cnipodectes subbrunneus (Sclater), M. cnemotriccola sp. n. ex Cnemotriccus fuscatus (Wied-Neuwied), M. lathrotriccola sp. n. ex Lathrotriccus euleri (Cabanis) (Tyrannidae), M. faccioae sp. n. ex Cyphorhinus arada transfluvialis (Todd) (Troglodytidae), and M. lampropsaricola sp. n. ex Lampropsar tanagrinus (Spix) (Icteridae). Among these are two new Myrsidea species described from the avian family Formicariidae, which previously had only a single described Myrsidea species, and a new host record for M. cinnamomei Dalgleish et Price, 2005 ex Attila citriniventris Sclater. Analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I sequences for these and other neotropical Myrsidea species provides an assessment of their phylogenetic relationships and indicates that all of these newly described species are genetically distinct. We also put these descriptions into context by estimating the potential number of unnamed Myrsidea species in Brazil, given the known diversity of potential hosts and typical levels of host specificity for Myrsidea species. Our estimate indicates that Brazilian Myrsidea species diversity is likely more than an order of magnitude greater than the number of described Myrsidea species known from Brazil, highlighting the need for future work on this megadiverse ectoparasite genus.
A new feather mite species, Dolichodectes hispanicus sp. n. (Astigmata: Proctophyllodidae), is described from the Melodious Warbler Hippolais polyglotta (Vieillot) (Passeriformes: Acrocephalidae) in Spain. The new species is closest to the type species of the genus, D. edwardsi (Trouessart, 1885) from the Grear Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus (Linnaeus) (Acrocephalidae). Adults of D. hispanicus differ from those of D. edwardsi by dimensional characteristics, in particular, by having shorter aedeagus that does not extend to the anal suckers in males and shorter hysteronotal shield in females. Tritonymphs of D. hispanicus are much more distinctive and differ from those of D. edwardsi by having the prodorsal shield covering all the prodorsum, the hysteronotal shield occupying about three quarters of the hysterosoma, and idiosomal setae h3 being filiform. The morphological description of the new species is augmented by sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene fragment (COI)., Sergey V. Mironov, Jorge Doña, Roger Jovani., and Obsahuje bibliografii
There is very little information on the importance of fleshy fruit in the diet of the nestlings and fledglings of partially frugivorous Holarctic passerines. In an area of 0.6 km2 in northwestern Spain, it was verified during 2001–2003 that at least one blackcap Sylvia atricapilla pair and five blackbird Turdus merula pairs fed their offspring on a certain proportion of ivy Hedera helix fruit. Observations made on a blackcap nest in May showed that the parents fed older nestlings on animal prey on 60.7% of occasions and 39.3% on fruit (n = 140 total number of identified feeds). The female fed nestlings on fruit more often than the male. According to observations carried out on five ivy plants in May, blackcaps brought fruit in their bills to feed nestlings or fledglings on 40.3% of 67 feeding visits and blackbirds on at least 22.1% of 86 feeding visits. The blackcaps consistently carried one fruit and the blackbirds between three and five. Both species fed their young on fruit under very different meteorological conditions. Seeds found in the faecal sacs of their nestlings showed high potential germination viability (95.6% undamaged seeds and 4.4% cracked seeds; n = 46 total seeds except for those gnawed by rodents), so the adults probably acted as indirect vectors in dispersing ivy whilst carrying faecal sacs away from the nest.
The goal of this paper was to test the hypothesis that weather conditions, such as temperature and rainfall, affect egg colouration in the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus. We failed to find strong support for this hypothesis; nevertheless, our results indicate that temperature has an effect on some egg colour characteristics. Eggshell brightness (PC1) increased with increasing temperature at laying and eggs were darker in the colder year of the two-year study. On the other hand, UV-blue colouration (PC2) scores were higher in the warmer year. The amount of rainfall, however, had no effect on eggshell colouration. As there is an indication from other studies that weather may have an effect on egg appearance through the food availability, we encourage further testing the environmental hypothesis in other bird species. If this holds for more bird species, this would have important implications for the hypotheses about the adaptive function of bright eggshell colouration.
A study was made of the influence of trampling by grazing animals on the nesting success of real nests (meadow pipit, Anthus pratensis; water pipit, Anthus spinoletta; and skylark, Alauda arvensis) and simulated nests (caps from jam-jars filled by green plasticine) on pasture in the Orlické Mountains and on unmanaged alpine meadows in the Jeseníky Mountains (Czech Republic, Central Europe). While the pasture was continuously grazed by livestock at high densities, unmanaged alpine meadow was grazed only by wild large herbivores at far lower densities. Trampling was the primary cause of nest failure in the Orlické Mountains, but was infrequent in the Jeseníky Mountains. The number of real nests lost by trampling corresponded to simulated nests within the localities. Spatial distribution of simulated nests had no effect on their survival on intensively grazed fields. The results indicate that grazing animals negatively influenced the nesting success of real and simulated nests of grassland passerines on continuously grazed mountain pasture. The use of simulated nests was an adequate method of predicting trampling losses by natural nests.
Corn buntings in the Wielkopolska region (W Poland) show a clear local dialect pattern of microgeographic song variation only in relatively dense and stable populations, which inhabited typical farmland landscape. In less preferred habitats, where males were much more dispersed, or in sites that where colonized recently, we found no such a pattern of song type sharing. The between-individual song type variation was higher in such sites and males from such locations did not sing any common dialect. The pattern of full and shortened song variant usage was rather inconsistent. Shortened song variants were used more frequently during counter-singing than solo-singing, but some song types were shortened more often than others regardless of the context.