Analgoidea Trouessart and Mégnin, 1884

Waki, Tsukasa, Mironov, Sergey, Nakaya, Yumiko, Nagamine, Takashi & Shimano, Satoshi, 2024, A New Feather Mite Species of the Genus Metanalges (Acariformes: Analgidae) from the Okinawa Rail, Hypotaenidia okinawae (Gruiformes: Rallidae), in Okinawa Island, Japan, Species Diversity 29 (1), pp. 161-169 : 162-163

Superfamily Analgoidea Trouessart and Mégnin, 1884 Family Analgidae Trouessart and Mégnin, 1884 Subfamily Megniniinae Gaud and Atyeo, 1982 Genus Metanalges Trouessart, 1919

Type species. Megninina elongata Trouessart, 1887, by original designation.

Remarks. The genus Metanalges is restricted in host associations to rails ( Gruiformes : Rallidae ) and, to date, has included 12 species ( Table 1) ( Trouessart 1919; Bonnet 1924 a, 1924b; Berla 1960; Gaud and Mouchet 1959; Gaud and Till 1961; Gaud 1968; Mironov 1981; Mironov and Galloway 2002; Mironov and Malovichko 2023). Representatives of this genus, as for most Analgidae , mainly inhabit the body covert feathers, although some individuals can be found in the basal parts of remiges and rectrices. Gaud and Mouchet (1959) divided the genus into two subgenera, Metanalges s. str. and Agrialges Gaud and Mouchet 1959 , based on the structure of tarsi III in males. In males of the nominative subgenus, tarsus III is roughly cylindrical, with bidentate apical extension and with seta s modified in a thick bidentate spine. In males of the subgenus Agrialges , tarsus III is cone-like and seta s is represented by a blade-like spine with acute apex ( Gaud 1968; Mironov 1981). Identification keys to previously known species from rallids of the Old World were provided by Gaud (1968) and Mironov (1981).

Gaud (1968) noted that Megninia strongylia Bonnet, 1924 from the Black-sided Robin, Poecilodryas hypoleuca (Gray, 1859) ( Passeriformes : Petroicidae ), could belong to the genus Metanalges . This suggestion seems to be erroneous, because the general shape of male opisthosoma, position of setae on opisthosomal lobes and the absence of lateral and interlobar lamellae in M. strongylia ( Bonnet 1924a: 163, fig. 18) do not match to corresponding character states in the genus Metanalges .

In the original description of Metanalges (M.) elongatus, Trouessart (1887) reported this mite from a rallid species, identified as Ocydromus australis (Sparrman, 1786) (now Gallirallus australis ) from New Caledonia, although this bird species is endemic to New Zealand. In a subsequent paper, Trouessart (1919) corrected the host identification for the New Caledonian Rail, Cabalus lafresnayanus (Verreaux and des Murs, 1860) , an endemic rallid of New Caledonia.

In the original description of M. (A.) eurytarsus Gaud and Mouchet, 1959 , Gaud and Mouchet (1959) reported the Western Plantain-eater, Crinifer piscator (Boddaert, 1783) ( Musophagiformes : Musophagidae ), as the type host of this mite. In the next paper on feather mites associated with rails, Gaud (1968) indicated that the record of M. (A.) eurytarsus on Cr. piscator was an error caused by accidental contamination, and the true host of this mite is the Black Crake, Zapornia flavirostra (Swainson, 1837) .