Osnabrücker Naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen Band 26, S. 191–198, 2000 191 A new quill mite (Acari: Syringophilidae) from the Blackbird Maciej Skoracki, Jacek Dabert and Rainer Ehrnsberger Abstract: This article describes a new species of quill mite, Torotrogla merulae sp. n., of the family Syringophilidae Lavoipierre, 1953, that lives on the Blackbird Turdus merula (Turdidae: Passeri- formes) from Poland. Kurzfassung: Es wird die neue Vogelfedermilbe Torotrogla merulae sp. n. aus der Familie Syringo- philidae Lavoipierre, 1953 aus Polen beschrieben, die auf der Amsel Turdus merula (Turdiidae: Passeriformes) lebt. Für die bisher beschriebenen Milben der Gattung Torotrogla wird ein Bestim- mungsschlüssel aufgestellt. Key words: Syringophilidae, Turdus merula, ectoparasites, Torotrogla, quill mites. Authors: MSc Maciej Skoracki, Dr. Jacek Dabert Department of Animal Morphology, A. Mickiewicz University, Szamarzewskiego 91 A, 60-569 Pozna´ n, Poland Prof. Dr. Rainer Ehrnsberger Institute of Nature Conservation and Environmental Education, University of Vechta, Driverstrasse 22, D-49377 Vechta, Germany 1 Introduction Syringophilid mites live and reproduce within the quills of the remiges, restrices, coverts and body feathers of birds. They feed on soft tissue fluids of birds by piercing the quill wall with their styletiform chelicerae (Kethley 1971; Casto 1974). The genus Torotrogla has hitherto includ- ed four described species: T. villosa (Han- cock, 1895) from Phainopepla nitens (Bom- bycillidae), T. mima Kethley, 1970 from Mimus polyglottos (Sturnidae), T. gaudi Bo- chkov et Mironov, 1998 from Fringilla coelebs (Fringillidae) and T. cardueli Bochkov et Mi- ronov, 1999 from Carduelis spinus (Fringilli- dae). All known species are parasites of pas- serine birds. 2 Methods and nomenclature Mite specimens were collected from quills of secondaries of the Blackbird Turdus merula and stored in vials with 70% ethanol. Subse- quently, they were mounted in a polyvinilol- actophenol medium in microslides and stud- ied under microscope Olympus BH 2 with the Nomarsky interference-contrast-phase. The morphological terminology and setal designations used in descriptions follow that of Kethley (1970, 1973). All measurements are given in micrometers.