19Many studies have revealed that animal vocalizations, including those from mammals, are 20 individually distinctive. Therefore, acoustic identification of individuals (AIID) has been repeatedly 21 suggested as a noninvasive and labor efficient alternative to markrecapture identification methods. 22We present a pipeline of steps for successful AIID in a given species. By conducting such work, we will 23 also improve our understanding of identity signals in general. Strong and stable acoustic signatures 24 are necessary for successful AIID. We reviewed studies of individual variation in mammalian 25 vocalizations as well as pilot studies using acoustic identification to census mammals and birds. We 26 found the greatest potential for AIID (characterized by strong and stable acoustic signatures) was in 27Cetacea and Primates (including humans). In species with weaker acoustic signatures, AIID could still 28 be a valuable tool once its limitations are fully acknowledged. A major obstacle for widespread 29 utilization of AIID is the absence of tools integrating all AIID subtasks within a single package. 30Automation of AIID could be achieved with the use of advanced machine learning techniques 31 inspired by those used in human speaker recognition or tailored to specific challenges of animal AIID. 32Unfortunately, further progress in this area is currently hindered by the lack of appropriate publicly 33 available datasets. However, we believe that after overcoming the issues outlined above, AIID can 34 quickly become a widespread and valuable tool in field research and conservation of mammals and 35 other animals. 36

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Calls of male rock ptarmigans show individual vocal signatures.These signatures allow acoustic censusing of the number of males present in an area.Acoustic sampling is more accurate than point-count protocol.

In this study, we conducted a parasitological investigation of the quill mite fauna of the subfamily Picobiinae (Acariformes: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) associated with African barbets (Aves: Piciformes: Lybiidae). We examined twenty-seven host species, representing 57% of the forty-seven known host species in the family Lybiidae, belonging to seven genera (70% of the ten genera in the family). Our research revealed that ten host species were infested by three species of picobiine mites belonging to the genus Tanopicobia: (1) Tanopicobia hallae Sikora and Skoracki, sp. n., from three species of the genus Lybius and two species of the genus Tricholaema, (2) Tanopicobia stactolaema Sikora and Skoracki, sp. n., from two species of the genus Stactolaema, and (3) Tanopicobia trachyphoni Skoracki et al., 2020, collected from three host species of the genus Trachyphonus. Our findings demonstrate that birds belonging to the family Lybiidae have a specific parasite fauna consisting exclusively of mites of the genus Tanopicobia; this mite genus is apparently restricted to African barbets.