Psoroptes

Psoroptes is a genus of mites, including the agents that cause psoroptic mange.

Psoroptes
Psoroptes cuniculi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Sarcoptiformes
Family:	Psoroptidae
Genus:	Psoroptes Gervais, 1841
Species:	P. equi
Binomial name
Psoroptes equi (Hering, 1838)
Synonyms
Psoroptes cuniculi (Delafond, 1859) Psoroptes ovis (Hering, 1838) Psoroptes cervinus Ward, 1915 Psoroptes natalensis Hirst, 1919

Psoroptic mange

Psoroptes on a rabbit ear crust

Psoroptes mites are responsible for causing psoroptic mange in various animals, leading to economic losses among farmers of cattle, sheep and goats.^[1] It is also known as sheep scab and cattle scab.^[1] The disease is highly infectious, and is transmitted via fenceposts and other structures that livestock use when scratching themselves.^[1] The mites have mouthparts which do not pierce the skin, but are adapted to feeding on the surface, where the mites abrade the stratum corneum.^[1] See Mites of livestock for photographs of infestations by Psoroptes.

Taxonomy

Psoroptes has been traditionally considered to include five species living on different host species, but genetic analysis has reduced the genus to a single species, Psoroptes ovis.^[2]