Chaudhury S, Gupta SK, Saha GK. 2012. Synanthropic acarine population associated with bird nests. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(5): 2603-2608

Nests of weavers and other birds nests may host a variety of parasitic, predatory and saprophagous mites. The mites feed on chicks, adults and fungus growing on the faeces of the birds. In this study 32 different nests of 6 bird species in India were collected and the mites extracted with a Tullgren Funnel apparatus. Mites collected from 5 nests of the Streaked Weaver Ploceus manyar were (number indicates sequence in text):
1. Tyrophagus putrescentiae (mould mite)
4. Glycyphagus ornatus
7. Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus
11. Lasioseius ometus
14. Antennoseius deyi
15. Antennoseius sp. (nymph)
18. Hypoaspis vacua
28. Acaropsia sollers (predatory mite, feeds upon Acarid mites and their eggs)
30. Cheylostigmaeus sp.

The listing in the table of the article omits some of these mite records, lists them in a different sequence and lists Dermatophagoides farinae instead of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus.

Read or download the pdf article here.

Photo: Example of a nest mite - Pellonyssus reedi from a Southern Masked Weaver nest.