A new quill mite species (Acari: Syringophilidae) parasitising tinamous (Aves: Tinamiformes).

Tinamiphilopsis ariconte n. sp., a syringophilid mite, is described from three tinamou species (Tinamidae), Rhynchotus rufescens (Temminck) and Nothura boraquira (Spix) in Paraguay and N. minor (Spix) in Brazil. These data indirectly support the hypothesis that the cheyletoid-like predatory ancestor of the Syringophilidae switched to parasitism before the divergence of the avian hosts into the two major clades Palaeognathae and Neognathae.