INTRODUCTION

Prostigmatans mites (Acari: Acariformes: Prostigmata) permanently associated with birds are po tentially very species-rich groups supposedly in cluding about 5000 species, but nearly 10 % (about 500 species) of these mites are recognized to date. These mites occupy a great diversity of microhab itats on the host body: skin, quills, intracutaneous layers, and respiratory tract, and are very interest ing in the global evolutionary sense as well as in several parasitological aspects, including host- parasite relationships.
This ecological group includes mites of five families belonging to three phylogenetically dis tant superfamilies: Cheyletidae, Harpirhynchidae, and Syringophilidae of the superfamily Cheyletoidea, Cloacaridae (Cloacaroidea), and Ereynetidae (Tydeoidea).
Most prostigmatic inhabitants of bird are true parasites feeding on live host tissues, but the ma jority of cheyletids living in feather quills are predators feeding on other quill-inhabiting mites and thus should be considered as commensals or even mutualists. Taking into consideration the high specificity of permanently parasitizing prostigmatans to avian hosts and their non-random distribution on host taxa, data about these mites could be used for the valida tion of host phylogeny and in deciphering of the host biogeography. Such investigations were un dertaken on various groups of symbionts, includ ing acariform mites, and often showed a high level of phylogenetic congruence between hosts and symbionts. Although some investigations conducted on astigmatan mites did not reveal phylogenetically congruent pattern, they pro vided valuable results for the host biogeography. At the same time, as a taxonomically poorly studied group, the pros tigmatans permanently associated with birds have never been involved in this kind of investigations.

References: Kethley and Johnston 1975; Moss 1979; Mironov and Bochkov 2009; Fain 1994; Bochkov 2009; Skoracki 2011; Klassen 1992; Bochkov and OConnor 2005; Skoracki et al. 2012