Gamasid mites are representatives of the infraorder of parasitiform mites. The Latin name is Gamasina. About 6,000 species are known. A third of them belong to the Phytoseiidae family, which destroy small pests: thrips, herbivorous mites. Other species feed on blood. They mainly parasitize animals, rodents, birds, centipedes, amphibians, and can also attack humans. They do not tolerate encephalitis and Lyme disease, like their relatives - ixodid ticks. But they were the indirect culprits in the spread of typhus. After numerous bites, a person may develop tick-borne dermatitis and allergic reactions.
Appearance
Gamasoid mites are not large in size. An adult specimen barely reaches 2.5 mm. The average dimensions are about 1 mm, so the morphology of the tick can only be examined in detail in a photo or under a microscope:
- oval-shaped body covered with chitin;
- the color is yellow, brown, reddish tones and depends on the habitat;
- the imago has 4 pairs of thin legs;
- sexual dimorphism is manifested by the presence in males of a cheliceral claw outgrowth on the finger - spermatodactyl.
The structure of the oral apparatus is represented by a kind of proboscis, equipped with chelicerae for piercing the skin of the victim and pediapalps, which perform the functions of touch. Breathing occurs through the trachea.
Interesting! Like most blood-sucking parasites, the body color of gamas ticks depends on the degree of saturation. Hungry individuals are gray in color, but only those that have drunk blood can be red or scarlet in color.
Pooh-eaters
Sometimes on the plumage of calmly sitting birds, especially on the front part of the head, quickly scurrying small insects - lice eaters - are noticed. They are often mistaken for lice.
Causes of the disease
Lick eaters are wingless parasites of birds with a flattened body, a large head wider than the chest, and gnawing jaws. Three pairs of legs end in one or two very tenacious claws. Luffy eaters live in the feathers and dry skin of birds. Some species of lice eaters even live in the mouths of large birds. These parasites feed on feather barbs, epidermal scales, and blood protruding from wounds and lesions on the skin. The eggs of lice eaters are white, tiny, but visible to the naked eye, and are attached to parts of the feather.
Epizootological data on lice beetles
Almost all types of birds become infected with lice in the warm season. Lice beetles are carried by mosquitoes and midges - the larvae of the parasites attach to the paws of these dipterans.
Healthy birds constantly shake off and destroy emerging lice eaters. To do this, they take sand and dust, water and sun baths and thereby regulate the number of parasites. Sick, weakened individuals begin to take less care of the feathers and parasites quickly multiply on the bird’s covers. Almost always, mass reproduction of lice eaters occurs on a bird with a paw injury.
Symptoms of the presence of lice beetles in birds
A bird heavily infested with lice eaters becomes disheveled, often shakes itself off and scratches itself, and tugs at its feathers with its beak. Appetite worsens, resistance to disease is lost.
Diagnosis and treatment of birds from lice eaters
The diagnosis is made based on medical history, clinical signs and laboratory methods.
Treatment. The plumage can be treated with insecticidal preparations, aerosols, or tiny powders (dusts) that are non-toxic to birds.
They recommend an original and harmless method of applying medications to the plumage of songbirds. To do this, take a thick bag or an old, but not holey sock, cut a hole at its end with a diameter of about 1.5 cm, place the bird in the bag, push its head out through the hole. Dust is poured into a bag and, having tied it tightly, the bird is kept in it for up to an hour. After this, it is removed from the bag and thoroughly cleaned with a vacuum cleaner. One or two treatments will be enough to completely get rid of parasites. You can also spray with a 0.3-0.5% aqueous solution of chlorophos or a 0.3% emulsion of trichlormetaphos-3. For those birds that bathe, it is necessary to add 1% (of the volume of sand) chlorophos or 2% sevin to the sand baths.
For spraying birds affected by lice eaters and other external parasites, the following are also used: karbofos emulsion (0.5%), permethrin emulsion (0.05%), oxamate emulsion (2%), bayogon (0.15%), dibrom (0.2%), dicresyl (0.7%), neocidol (0.1%), Nuvaton (0.2%), trolene (0.5%), phosphamide (0.2%), etc.
Without any restrictions, you can use powder or decoction (for bathing birds) of plants: pyrethrum (fragrant chamomile), tansy, wild rosemary, wormwood. Most organochlorine and organophosphorus insecticidal preparations for birds are poisonous to one degree or another.
Therefore, when using them, it is necessary to take precautions when cleaning the bird’s feathers and during subsequent bathing.
Life cycle
The gamas mite is found everywhere. Due to its microscopic size, people most often do not notice it. They live in the ground, forest floor, in burrows of animals, birds, and rodents. Blood-sucking species do not live permanently on the body of the victim; after saturation, they fall to the ground.
Reproduction can be done in different ways:
- Bisexual. The male attaches a sac with sperm (spermatophore) to the female’s body, after some time the female lays eggs in the soil, substrates, manure, in cracks and fixes them with an adhesive substance.
- Parthenogenesis. The female does not need fertilization; she lays eggs, from which viable larvae emerge.
- Viviparous species. The female is capable of bearing only one egg; the individual is born already in the larval or protonymph stage.
On average, the development cycle: egg, larva, 2 nymphal phases, adult – lasts 10-15 days. Larvae differ from adults not only in their smaller size, but also in the number of legs (6), as well as in the lack of nutritional requirements. The lifespan of gamasid mites is from 6 to 9 months.
Habitat
Such small creatures are characterized by an unpretentious nature and omnivorous nature. Many species are predators that eat any biological products. When choosing places of residence, ticks settle in the soil, cracks in the bark, under leaves and in other hard-to-reach areas. They often destroy small invertebrates, larvae and all kinds of organic matter. Despite the wide variety of species and forms of the parasite, most of them do not pose a danger to humans.
However, some individuals have learned to lead a parasitic lifestyle, adapting to large insects, birds, and even domestic animals. Such parasites are capable of transmitting pathogens of dangerous diseases and pathologies, being a threat not only to animals, but also to people.
And in order to effectively get rid of these pests, it is important to fully know about their lifestyle, preferences in choosing places to live, as well as other features. It is important to understand the existing types of such creatures in order to be able to classify them and find effective treatment methods.
What do they eat?
Some types of gamasid mites are beneficial. Predators stand out among them. They hunt small arthropod pests and eat their eggs. Microscopic mites can feed on microorganisms, including fungi.
Another part of gamasoid ticks leads a parasitic lifestyle, feeding on the blood of large and small mammals, reptiles, and birds. Most species have a narrow specialization - they prefer only one type of animal or insect.
Literature
- Bregetova N. G.
Gamasoidea mites. A short guide. — M.—L. : Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1956. - 248 p. — (Key guides to the fauna of the USSR, published by the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Issue 61). - Davydova M. S., Nikolsky V. V. Gamasid mites of Western Siberia. - Novosibirsk, Publishing house "Nauka", Siberian branch. 1986. 125 p.
- Nikulina N. A. Catalog of parasitic gamasid mites of mammals of Northern Eurasia (territory of Russia). Part 1. - St. Petersburg. 2004. 171 p. ISBN 5-87401-111-0.
- Hunter PE, Rosario RMT 1988. Associations of Mesostigmata with other arthropods. Annual review of entomology 33
: 393–417. - Lindquist EE, Walter DE, Krantz GW 2009. Chapter twelve. Order Mesostigmata. pp. 124—232 in: Krantz GW, Walter DE (eds). A manual of acarology. Third edition. Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock Texas
.
Common types
Mouse, rat, chicken, and varroa mites are of medical importance for humans and a threat to animals. The latter does not bite humans, but causes great damage to apiaries, parasitizing honey bees and brood.
Chicken mites
Colonies of parasites are localized in chicken coops, outbuildings, attics, roofs, and bird nests. Domestic and wild birds suffer from them: chickens, partridges, pigeons. They enter poultry houses through ventilation grilles and cracks. Birds often carry mites on their feathers themselves.
Parasites attack victims at night. After saturation, the tick falls into the litter, feces, continues to develop, and lays eggs. Since the development cycle from egg to adult proceeds very quickly, infection of poultry takes on a global scale.
In infected individuals, egg production decreases and there is no increase in body weight. Sick birds experience anemia and feather loss. Weakened hens and chicks die.
On a note! Chicken mites can attack people and it is not necessary to come into contact with the bird. Parasites can be found in pillows, blankets, feather beds with poorly processed raw materials. Bites provoke the development of dermatitis and cause allergic reactions.
If you suspect that a bird is infected with chicken mites, you should call a veterinarian. Individuals are moved to a temporary poultry house. The poultry is treated with the following drugs: Milben, Deltsid, Butox 50. The cracks in the chicken coop are sealed, all surfaces are sprayed with one of the chemicals: Karbofos, Chlorophos, Tsiodrin. As a preventative measure, periodically quartz the room, treat the walls with lime, and regularly change the bedding.
Mouse mites
They live in the nests of decorative, wild mice, from whose blood they feed. The size of adult individuals reaches 3 mm, so mouse mites can be examined without the use of magnifying devices.
Capable of attacking humans. They are carriers of vesicular rickettsiosis. Main symptoms:
- the formation of swelling at the site of the bite, the appearance of a black crust;
- rash on the extremities, gradually spreading throughout the body;
- feverish condition;
- muscle and joint pain.
Treatment is carried out with antibiotics of the tetracycline group. In people with strong immunity, the disease often goes away on its own within 2–3 weeks after infection.
Rat ticks
Visually they are no different from their mouse counterparts. They prefer the blood of rats, but they can also parasitize other rodents and bite humans. Very mobile and in a hungry state, they are able to cover distances of several hundred meters, which is why they often appear in apartments, especially on the first floors, and private houses. They hide in baseboards, cracks, and settle down near heating appliances and in bathrooms.
On a note! Chicken and rat mites can survive without food for up to 6 months. Not finding a food source, they fall into a state of suspended animation. When they appear, the victims wake up and continue their life activities.
Rat ticks are carriers of pathogens such as rickettsiosis, tuleryemia, typhus, plague, and the Coxsackie virus.
Prevention of parasites
City residents are practically unfamiliar with such unpleasant creatures. Villagers should take care of their own comfortable living and the quality of life of poultry.
Here are some tips to prevent gamas ticks:
- Regularly treat the chicken coop with powdered acaricides.
- keep the house clean;
- regularly disinfect rooms with special compounds;
- wash pet bedding and wash the animals themselves;
- close the cracks through which rats and mice can enter the room.
Still, there are risks of the emergence of new parasitic individuals. It is impossible to remove all rodents. Some people set traps or spread poison. Rats and mice reproduce quickly, and it is quite difficult to protect your poultry and yourself from their invasion, but it is worth a try. The main thing is to promptly pay attention to the behavior of chickens and examine the skin for the appearance of bites.
Controlling gamasid mites is vital. They infect a living organism with bacterial pathogens that cause typhus, dermatitis and other dangerous diseases. It should be remembered that a negligent attitude towards one’s own health and the life of poultry can lead to death.
Gamas mites in the house
They enter a person's home on the fur of pets, through ventilation holes, and open windows. Often the reason for the appearance of ticks in an apartment is the pest control of basements and attics.
To get rid of gamas ticks, it is not necessary to call sanitary services. You can do this yourself at home. Treatment of residential premises is carried out using insectoacaricidal agents: Tsifoks, Fufanon, Tetrix, Get. Bedding is washed at high temperatures. Blankets and pillows can be treated with a steam generator.
If the housing closely borders the habitat of rodents: basements, attics, the first stage is decontamination, and the second is deratization.
How to treat bites
Gamasid mite bites cause tick-borne dermatitis. For example, after a rat mite bite, a reddish dot remains on a person’s skin. After 14 hours, the dot turns into a pinkish spot, and after 36 hours into a red papule. The bite mark lasts twenty days. The rash after multiple bites is accompanied by severe itching.
Sometimes tick-borne dermatitis is confused with scabies, so first you need to make an accurate diagnosis, since scabies remedies usually do not make sense to use for tick-borne dermatitis.
The presence of mite dermatitis can be judged by the fact that there are no scabies in the skin. For
For a quick cure, it is necessary first of all to get rid of ticks and the animals on which they parasitize.
Treatment is usually symptomatic. It is recommended to take a hot shower before starting treatment to remove ticks from your body. The skin is treated with various antiparasitic ointments, such as sulfur ointment. Prednisolone is used to reduce itching. Folk remedies such as chamomile or string infusion can also help reduce itching. Sometimes oral medications, such as antihistamines, are prescribed.
The wax moth is an amazing insect. A wonderful tincture is prepared from its larvae, which helps in the treatment of many diseases. The large coniferous horntail is a forest pest that eats wood and bark of coniferous trees. You will find a detailed description of the insect here.
Pine moth caterpillars eat the needles of pine trees, which can lead to the destruction of forest areas. How to deal with this pest, read the article at the link.
Where do they come from?
Gamasid mites are a superfamily of mites from the order Parasitiformes from the subclass Mites and the class Arachnids. The group contains approximately 20 families and 300 genera, which are capable of living everywhere.
A significant part of the species leads a predatory lifestyle, being omnivores or attacking small invertebrates. The remaining species become parasites and consume the blood of mammals, birds and reptiles.
Gamasid mites are tiny creatures with a body length of 0.2 to 3.5 millimeters. The body is ovoid or oval in shape, and is also colored yellowish or brownish. But if the parasite has already drunk blood, it turns scarlet. Externally, the creature is distinguished by a body divided into two parts, which consists of:
- Torso with chitinous cover.
- Oral apparatus.
There are 4 pairs of limbs on the tick's body, and the mouthparts are a small proboscis that is capable of piercing the skin of victims. Initially, the parasite pierces the skin with sharp chelicerae, and then touches it with pedipalps. Respiratory processes are carried out through tracheas located on the side of the body.
The process can be divided into three stages:
- Egg formation.
- Transformation into a larva.
- Nymph I (protonymph).
- Nymph II (deuteronymph).
- Adult tick.
The fertilization process is carried out as follows: male representatives fix a spermatophore (sac with sperm) to the female’s body through chelicerae. Some species reproduce through parthenogenesis, i.e. females lay eggs, from which viable larvae are then formed. There are also viviparous varieties of gamasid mites. The development of their eggs takes place inside the female’s body, after which a larva or protonymph emerges from it. Due to the impressive size of the eggs, the female cannot lay more than one egg at a time.
Classification
About 40 families, 11 superfamilies, 4 hypoorders, more than 6000 species. Previously considered as a superfamily or cohort. Taxonomy according to Beaulieu (2011):
- Infraorder Gamasina
-
Gamasid mites
Hypoorder Arctacariae - Superfamily Arctacaroidea
Arctacaridae (6 species)
- Superfamily Ascoidea (3 families, more than 700 species) Ameroseiidae (148)
- Dermanyssidae (26)
- Eviphididae (108)
- Blattisociidae (369)
- Digamasellidae (261)
Veigaiidae (about 100 species)
(1 family)
- Superfamily Epicrioidea
Epicriidae (about 50 species)(1 family)
- Superfamily Heatherelloidea
Heatherellidae (2 species)(1 family)
Superfamily Zerconoidea (2 families) Coprozerconidae (1 species)
- Superfamily Parasitoidea
Parasitidae (over 400 species)(1 family)
Where do these insects live?
Gamas mites can appear in an apartment in different ways: from the fur of pets, from mice and rats, and they get to the top floor from pigeons nesting under the roof. The most common are three types of these parasites, which cause trouble with their proximity.
- Mouse mites live on house mice, but can also bite humans. They pose a danger only when there are a large number of rodents. Most often found in rural areas or on the first floors of old city houses.
- Rat gamas mites are more common. They live on rats, house mice and other rodents. They often attack cats and dogs, as well as humans. An animal can carry parasites on its fur, and they will multiply, settling behind baseboards, in floor cracks or under furniture.
- Chicken mites are mainly dangerous for poultry. In rural areas, poultry farmers often suffer from them, since multiple bites cause chickens to lay eggs less often and may die. Very rarely, these types of parasites appear in the city: from pigeons, crows or other birds. Once in human housing, chicken mites can also feed on human blood.
Treatment
Treatment of people who have become infected with tick-borne encephalitis occurs according to general principles, regardless of the presence of vaccination or the use of specific drugs that contain antibacterial antibodies.
During acute periods of the disease, even if it is mild, it is necessary for the patient to remain in bed until all symptoms of intoxication have passed. Almost complete immobilization, non-active transportation leads to minimal pain stimulation, and, accordingly, improves recovery prognosis
It is also important to remember the need for a balanced diet for the sick person. The diet can be prescribed if dysfunction is detected in the stomach, intestines and liver
In addition, many patients with encephalitis experience an imbalance in the vitamin balance and they need a lot of vitamins B and C. Therefore, from three hundred milligrams daily it is worth administering ascorbic acid, which will stimulate the functions of the adrenal glands and improve liver function.
Dangerous areas on the map of the Moscow region
In Moscow and the Moscow region, statistics are kept every year on the number of registered tick bites and the presence of dangerous viruses in their DNA. According to this information received in September last year, no cases of tick-borne encephalitis were recorded in Moscow and the Moscow region. Based on data obtained over past summer seasons, a list of dangerous areas on the map for ticks in the Moscow region and Moscow in 2022 was compiled:
- the first places were taken by the districts of Ramensky, Serpukhovsky, Kolomensky - in the territory of each of them more than 800 cases of attacks by arachnid parasites were registered;
- in Lyubertsy, Naro-Fominsk, Dmitrov and Noginsk regions, the number of bite cases exceeds 500;
- In the Chekhovsky, Pushkinsky districts, and in Orekhovo-Zuevo, tick bites in 2022 are expected in an amount not exceeding 300 cases, as was the case in 2022.
The number of ticks in the Moscow region in 2022 depends on several factors. In the case of very hot and early summers, the parasites should be less active. They also do not like very rainy weather, which often occurs during the summer months in the metropolitan area.
The map for encephalitis ticks in the Moscow region in 2022 was created based on data for previous summer seasons. Despite the absence of recorded cases of encephalitis infection, there is a likelihood of the presence of encephalitic parasites in the Dmitrovsky, Taldomsky districts, and Dubna. Epidemiologists studying the question of whether there are encephalitis ticks in Moscow have been keeping statistics for the last few years. So far, not a single case of infection with a dangerous infection has been recorded.
Dangerous areas for ticks on the map of the Moscow region
During the tick period, the safest areas of the Moscow region in terms of the number of calls from victims are considered to be the eastern and southern ones:
- Odintsovo;
- Mozhaisk district;
- Shakhovsky district;
- Kashira district;
- Troitsk and others.
It is impossible to say for sure whether there are encephalitis ticks in the Moscow region. The virus can be brought from other northern neighboring regions: Yaroslavl, Tver, Ivanovo. Bloodsuckers are able to travel distances through transport or while on the human body.
