Northern fowl mite (Ornithonyssus sylviarum) in Sweden |
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| Authors: | D S JANSSON F OTMAN L LUNDQVIST J HÖGLUND A ENGSTRÖM J CHIRICO |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Animal Health and Antimicrobial Strategies, National Veterinary Institute (SVA), , Uppsala, Sweden;2. Biological Museums, Lund University, , Lund, Sweden;3. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Section for Parasitology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), , Uppsala, Sweden;4. Department of Virology, Immunobiology and Parasitology, National Veterinary Institute (SVA), , Uppsala, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | Haematophagous mites were collected from the vent region and plumage of chickens in six hobby flocks of ornamental breeds in Sweden, one of which included turkeys. Soiled vent skin and feathers, dermatitis, hyperkeratosis, skin necroses and ulcers were observed in 12 necropsied birds from two of the flocks. The mites were identified as the northern fowl mite Ornithonyssus sylviarum (Mesostigmata: Macronyssidae). This was supported by sequence analysis of a 642‐bp region in the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene (COI) in mites collected from five flocks, which showed 97–99% sequence similarity to O. sylviarum by blast analysis. Pairwise sequence comparisons revealed nucleotide variations in the range of 0–2.8%, whereas amino acid sequences were highly conserved. This paper represents one of very few records of O. sylviarum in European poultry, and is the first to report COI sequence data for O. sylviarum from poultry in Europe. |
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| Keywords: | Acari Macronyssidae Mesostigmata Ornithonyssus sylviarum chicken COI gene northern fowl mite |
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