Feather mites (Acariformes, Astigmata) from marine birds of the Barton Peninsula (King George Island, Antarctica), with descriptions of two new species

Abstract

We report on the first investigation of feather mites associated with birds living on the Barton Peninsula (King George Island, Antarctica). We found seven feather mite species of the superfamily Analgoidea from four host species. Two new species are described from two charadriiform hosts: Alloptes (Sternalloptes) antarcticus sp. nov (Alloptidae) from Stercorarius maccormicki Saunders (Stercorariidae), and Ingrassia chionis sp. nov. (Xolalgidae) from Chionis albus (Gmelin) (Chionidae). Additionally, we provide partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), which was utilized as a DNA barcode, for all seven feather mite species.