SENSORY ORGANS AND SENSORY BEHAVIOR OF THE POULTRY RED MITE DERMANYSSUS GALLINAE (DE GEER) (GAMASINA, DERMANYSSIDAE)

About author:

Leonovich S.A., Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya emb. 1, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia

Acknowledgments:

The author is grateful to Prof. M. Shustrova (Academy of Veterinary Medicine, St. Petersburg, Russia) for providing an ability to collect mites for the study. The work was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 06-04-48538a and by a grant for leading scien-tific schools NS-5563.2006.4.

Annotation:

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.

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