title: DNA barcoding and minibarcoding as a powerful tool for feather mite studies.
abstract: Feather mites (Astigmata: Analgoidea and Pterolichoidea) are among the most abundant and commonly occurring bird ectosymbionts. Basic questions on the ecology and evolution of feather mites remain unanswered because feather mite species identification is often only possible for adult males, and it is laborious even for specialized taxonomists, thus precluding large-scale identifications. Here, we tested DNA barcoding as a useful molecular tool to identify feather mites from passerine birds. Three hundred and sixty-one specimens of 72 species of feather mites from 68 species of European passerine birds from Russia and Spain were barcoded. The accuracy of barcoding and minibarcoding was tested. Moreover, threshold choice (a controversial issue in barcoding studies) was also explored in a new way, by calculating through simulations the effect of sampling effort (in species number and species composition) on threshold calculations. We found one 200-bp minibarcode region that showed the same accuracy as the full-length barcode (602 bp) and was surrounded by conserved regions potentially useful for group-specific degenerate primers. Species identification accuracy was perfect (100%) but decreased when singletons or species of the Proctophyllodes pinnatus group were included. In fact, barcoding confirmed previous taxonomic issues within the P. pinnatus group. Following an integrative taxonomy approach, we compared our barcode study with previous taxonomic knowledge on feather mites, discovering three new putative cryptic species and validating three previous morphologically different (but still undescribed) new species.
authors: Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Avda, Americo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, Spain.
authors: Jorge
authors: J
authors: Doña
authors: Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Avda, Americo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, Spain.
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Diaz-Real
authors: Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Embankment 1, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
authors: Sergey
authors: S
authors: Mironov
authors: Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Avda, Americo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, Spain.
authors: Pilar
authors: P
authors: Bazaga
authors: Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Avda, Americo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, Spain.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Serrano
authors: Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), Avda, Americo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, Spain.
authors: Roger
authors: R
authors: Jovani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics*; D005241:Feathers / Q000469:parasitology; D008925:Mites / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012426:Russia; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: DNA barcoding; barcode threshold; cryptic species; cytochrome oxidase subunit 1; host-symbiont interactions; minibarcoding; mtDNA