Columbiphilus Kivganov and Sharafat, 1995

Skoracki, Maciej & Sikora, Bozena, 2011, Quill mites (Acari: Syringophilidae) associated with galliform birds (Aves: Galliformes), Zootaxa 2966, pp. 13-30 : 26

Genus Columbiphilus Kivganov and Sharafat, 1995

Columbiphilus Kivganov and Sharafat, 1995: 82 .

Picobia, Bochkov & Mironov 1998: 15 .

Columbiphilus, Skoracki 2011: 373

Type species: C. khushalkhani Kivganov and Sharafat, 1995 by original designation.

This genus comprises the species associated with birds of the three orders, Galliformes , Columbiformes and Pteroclidiformes ( Skoracki 2011). Galliform-associated mites belong to two species, C. polonica (Skoracki et al., 2002) , C. alectoris ( Fain et al., 2000) , and one new species described below.

Although, this genus was established based on material collected from nest of Columba livia Gmelin in Afganistan ( Kivganov & Sharafat 1995), in our opinion, this bird is not true host for this mite species. Really the picobiin connected with doves is Neopicobia zumpti ( Lawrence, 1959) recorded from African, American, European doves ( Lawrence 1959; Bochkov et al. 2005; pers. obs.). C. khushalkhani is morphologically very similar to C. polonica , (a poor description and access to the type material of C. khushalkhani being unavailable, does not allow us to compare these two species). We suggest accidental transfer of these quill mites from domestic hen to nearby nesting doves. Thus, the name Columbiphilus does not show the real association of these quill mites with their hosts.