Object of the Month August 2025
Gary Larsons Quill Mite Gunabopicobia garylarsoni
This time, the object stands somewhat behind its namesake…
There’s an American cartoonist known and loved by (not only, but especially) biologists, because many of his illustrated stories focus on biological facts and often feature animals (especially insects, dogs, cows, and dinosaurs) as the main protagonists. This is no coincidence, as Gary Larson is a zoologist at heart. Fortunately for the world, he chose a different career path, focusing entirely on drawing and creating thousands of cartoons that have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines around the world, some of which have caused quite a stir.
Like the one about a pair of chimpanzees, in which the bespectacled female chimpanzee finds a blonde hair in her husband’s fur while grooming him and comments, “Well, well – another blond hair… Conducting a little more ‘research’ with that Jane Goodall tramp?” An employee of the Jane Goodall Institute was deeply outraged by this impudence and sent a bitter letter to the newspaper group, threatening legal action. Gary was horrified, because he has deep respect for Jane and her contributions to primatology. But before he could send her an apology, the National Geographic Society asked if they could use the cartoon in a special edition of their magazine. Citing the letter, the Society initially declined, saying it didn’t reflect the Jane they knew. Jane actually loved the cartoon and was unaware that any of this “stuff” was going on. It not only appeared in the special edition but was also printed on T-shirts, with the proceeds from the sale going to the Jane Goodall Institute.
Gary Larson has also drawn a kind of biological “first aid book” that dispels many misconceptions about nature: In his brilliant “There’s a Hair in My Dirt,” he tells the story of a young woman named Harriett, who goes through the world with naive ignorance and romanticizes nature. As a counterpart, Father Worm explains to his son how things really are, and at the end, also what the eponymous hair is all about. An ideal book to give as a gift or to read again and again!
Amazingly, before our mite, only one species had been dedicated to Gary: Strigiphilus garylarsoni, a mallophage or biting louse that parasitizes the plumage of owls. He presents it in full-page format in “The Early History of the Other Side (170/71)” with, “And here it is. I considered this an extreme honor. Besides, I knew no one was going to write and ask to name a new species of swan after me. You have to grab these opportunities when they come along”. Therefore, after previously undescribed mites were found in bird-of-paradise skins at the ZSM, we decided to dedicate one of them to Gary Larson, reasoning that even though this time, it wouldn’t be a new swan species, at least a bird-of-paradise mite would be named after him!
And here it is, Gary Larson’s feather mite (Fig. 1). It lives not in one, but in two bird-of-paradise species: Over a hundred-year-old skins from the Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise Seleucidis melanoleucus (Fig. 2 above) and the Lesser Bird-of-paradise Paradisaea minor (Fig. 2 below) were carriers of the same, previously new species! This was a surprise, because quill mites are considered host-specific, i.e., they’re specialized on one host species or genus.
But how does the mite get from its original host species to the new one? This is most likely due to the sexual behavior of birds-of-paradise (Paradisaeidae), which, along with the ducks (Anseriformes), are the masters of interspecific reproduction and have so far produced 19 hybrids, some of which have been mistakenly described as new species. Normally, partners of polygynous species (one male copulates with several females) meet in courtship arenas, and each female selects the male she finds most attractive. After mating, they separate again, and the female is solely responsible for everything that follows.
However, it has also been reported that birds-of-paradise of different species move together in mixed flocks through the forests in search of food – and this is probably where rapid interspecific mating is most likely to occur. The mites then attempt a host change on this occasion. If these founding mites manage to bite into the feather quill, survive, and reproduce, then the change has been successful, and a new host species has been “hijacked” (Fig. 3).
Indeed, new bird-of-paradise species could have emerged this way if the offspring are fertile and similar hybrids are produced frequently enough and reproduce among themselves.
Gary Larson sent back a very nice, humorous letter (Fig. 4) and proudly mentions his mite on his website.
On August 14, 2025, Gary Larson will turn 75 – dear Gary, we wish you a long life, good health, much joy… and after a mallophaga and the mite, perhaps a non-parasite as your “godchild” after all.
4 facts about quill mites and their namesakes
- How fast is the transfer onto a new host? Highly social bird species that spend a lot of time in contact with conspecifics are unsuitable examples for this topic. In polygynous birds of paradise, which only have brief physical contact during mating, it becomes clear that the transfer must occur very quickly. The mites can then pass from an infested mother to her young. In brood-parasitic species like the cuckoo Cucculus canorus, this transmission route is also eliminated, leaving only mating, which usually only lasts seconds. How fertilized females manage to switch host birds within such short periods of time, or whether other stages are used for dispersal, is still unknown.
- Bird-of-paradise feather mites: In addition to our OdM, other species have been discovered and described, including Picobia frankei, dedicated to Dr. Thassilo Franke, and Sir David Attenborough’s Syringophiloidus attenboroughi.
- Changing relationships: Picobia frankei has even managed to switch between the polygynous genus Lophorina and the monogamous genus Manucodia; in doing so, a Lophorina female likely became involved with a Manucodia male, because Lophorina females breed alone, while Manucodia females require a male to incubate and raise their young.
- Both namesakes have a good sense of humor, as their reactions to their species demonstrate:
Jane Goodall adopted her mite (our Object of the Month May 2023) with a mischievous grin: “Why is a blood-sucking mite named after me when I’m a vegetarian?” and “The species described after me are getting smaller and smaller.”
Gary Larson is pleased with his mite, which has a taste for its hosts; while the Mallophaga is content with an owl, the Syringophilid goes all out and parasitizes birds of paradise.
Pictures
Fig. 1: The holotype of the new species Gunabopicobia garylarsoni… (Photo: M. Skoracki)
Fig. 2: …and its hosts, the Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise Seleucidis melanoleucus and the Lesser Bird-of-paradise Paradisaea minor. (Photo: M. Unsöld, ZSM)
Fig. 3: Two quill mites that have successfully switched to another species.
Fig. 4: Gary Larson’s letter
Fig. 5: A very happy scientist: Prof. Maciej Skoracki shortly after the discovery of a new species in the Carolina Parakeet (OdM May 2024) (Photo: M. Unsöld, ZSM)
References
Larson, G. (1989) The PreHistory of THE FAR SIDE. A 10th Anniversary Exhibit. Andrews and McMeel, Kansas City, New York
Sikora B, Unsoeld M, Melzer R R, Friedrich S, Skoracki M (2023) First Records of Picobiine Mites associated with Birds-of-Paradise: Can Interspecific Sexual Behaviour of Hosts Play a Role in the Distribution of Quill Mite Parasites? Animals 2023, 13(9), 1509-1520; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13091509
Skoracki M, Sikora B, Unsoeld M, Hromada M, Kwieciński Z (2024) New insights into the relationship of parasitic quill mites and birds: Picobia species in Asian and New World Barbets. The European Zoological Journal 2024, 91(2), 817-829; https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2024.2371843
Markus Unsöld, Bozena Sikora & Maciej Skoracki
Foto: M. Skoracki
Foto: M. Unsöld, ZSM