Acarina (2006) 14, 195-202

S.A. Leonovich (2006)
Sensory organs and sensory behavior of the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae (De Geer) (Gamasina, Dermanyssidae)
Acarina 14 (2), 195-202
Abstract: The poultry red mite, an important poultry pest in industrial farmhouses and a possible transmitter of the bird flue virus H5N1, possesses a total of 8 types of elementary sensory organs (sensilla), forming the chaetom of the body and its appendages, and also two main sensory organs (the palpal organ and the tarsal sensory organ). All the types of sensilla were studied in detail in scanning and transmitting electron microscopes. The structure of the main sensory organs is also described. Comparative analysis of the fine structure of receptors together with laboratory bioassays demonstrated the leading role of thermoreceptors and contact chemoreceptors in the sensory behavior of the mite; the role of olfactory receptors is less important. Attraction of D. gallinae to some amino acids (glutamine, glycine, and asparagine) was demonstrated. It is assumed that these substances can provide formation of giant accumulations of mites observed in industrial poultry farms.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Sergei A. Leonovich

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Dermanyssus gallinae		Russia (Eur.)