Sarcoptes

Sarcoptes scabei - Wikimedia Commons

Sarcoptes scabei - Wikimedia Commons

File:Scabies human skin pruritis.jpg

Scabies on human skin resulting in pruritis - Wikimedia Commons

Recognition

• Small, round mite
• Short legs
  • Project only a short distance from body margin

• Dorsal spines
  • Arranged in rows

• Terminal anus

• Male is about 250μm in length and the female about 400-430μm in length

Life cycle

• 3 week life cycle

• Female lays eggs in epidermis in an egg laying pocket

• Female feeds on liquid oozing from damaged tissue

• The eggs hatch in 1 week

• 6 legged larvae released which crawl to skin surface

• The larvae then burrow back into the epidermis into moulting pockets

• Larvae moult to become 8 legged nymphs

• Nymphs moult twice before becoming adults

• Adult males emerge and look for females to mate

Cause Sarcoptic Mange