DOI: 10.2478/s11686-014-0210-x © W. Stefański Institute of Parasitology, PAS Acta Parasitologica, 2014, 59(1), 68–79; ISSN 1230-2821 Quill mites of the subfamily Picobiinae (Acari: Syringophilidae) associated with woodpeckers (Aves: Piciformes: Picidae) Maciej Skoracki 1 *, Markus Unsoeld 2 , Katarzyna Kavetska 3 and Katarzyna Kaszewska 1 1 Department of Animal Morphology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61–614 Poznań, Poland; 2 Ornithological Section, Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Muenchhausenstrasse 21, 81247 Munich, Germany; 3 Laboratory of Biology and Ecology of Parasites, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Judyma 20, 71–795 Szczecin, Poland Abstract The paper contains a review of quill mites of the subfamily Picobiinae (Acari: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) associated with woodpeckers (Aves: Piciformes: Picidae). Three new species are described: Picobia mentalis Skoracki et Unsoeld sp. nov. from Picus mentalis Temminck, Neopicobia ea Skoracki et Unsoeld sp. nov. from Celeus flavus (St. Mueller) (type host), C. elegans (St. Mueller), C. torquatus (Boddaert), and Neopicobia freya Skoracki et Unsoeld sp. nov. from Dryocopus galeatus (Tem- minck) (type host) and Piculus rubiginosus (Swainson). Additionally, six new host species for Picobia heeri Haller, 1878 and 12 new host species for Picobia dryobatis (Fritsch, 1956) are reported. A complete list of the picobiines parasitising birds of the family Picidae is presented in the tabular form. Keywords Acari, Syringophilidae, Picobiinae, ectoparasites, Piciformes, Picidae Introduction The quill mites of the family Syringophilidae (Acari: Prostig- mata: Cheyletoidea) are a diverse group of permanent and highly specialized, mono- or oligoxenous bird ectoparasites inhabiting the feather quills (Kethley 1970, Skoracki 2011). To date this family includes about 280 species of 54 genera grouped in two subfamilies (Syringophilinae and Picobiinae), and described from all zoogeographical regions, except for the Antarctic (Skoracki et al. 2012). This number of syringophilid species is only a small part of their actual biodiversity, because the wide spectrum of the avian hosts is still unexplored. The subfamily Picobiinae Johnston et Kethley, 1975 is a taxonomical diverse group. The Palaearctic representatives of this subfamily were recently revised by Skoracki (2011) and at present, this taxon comprises 35 species grouped in five genera. Members of this subfamily are known presently from nine bird orders: Charadriiformes, Columbiformes, Coraciformes, Cuculiformes, Galliformes, Passeriformes, Piciformes, Psittaciformes, and Pteroclidiformes (Skoracki et al. 2012). All members of the subfamily Picobiinae occupy exclusively quills of body feathers, except Calamincola loba- tus collected from various flight feathers (Casto 1977). Until now, the fauna of picobiines associated with wood- peckers included only two species: Picobia dryobatis (Fritsch, 1958) recorded on Dendrocopos major (Linnaeus), D. minor hortorum (Brehm), D. leucotos (Bechstein), Picoides tridacty- lus (Linnaeus), P. scalaris (Wagler), P. tridactylus (Linnaeus) and P. heeri Haller, 1878 from Picus canus Gmelin and P. viridis Linnaeus. All the mite species mentioned above, were collected from Europe (Germany, England, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland) and North America (USA) (Skoracki et al. 2012). In this work we describe three new species of pocobiines associated with woodpeckers (Picidae). Additionally, Picobia heeri Haller, 1878 and Picobia dryobatis (Fritsch, 1958) were recorded on six and 12 new host species respectively. A com- plete list of the picobiines parasitising woodpeckers is pre- sented in the tabular form. Materials and Methods The material used in the present study was collected in the ornithological collection of the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Munich, Germany (ZSM) from dry bird skins and preserved in 70% ethanol. Mites were softened and cleared in *Corresponding author: skoracki@amu.edu.pl Author’s copy