Abstract

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Demodex bovis and D. ghanensis were isolated from cattle showing simultaneous hide and meibomian gland demodicosis. The two mites were subjected to morphologic and morphometric studies and compared. A small amount from each sample was placed on a slide and few drops of 10% potassium hydroxide were added to sample and gently heated for few minutes on a slide heater. Slides were examined under a microscope fitted with a camera and under a microscope fitted with an eyepiece lens micrometer. D. bovis was elongate, gently tapered and cigar-shaped while D. ghanensis mite was long, slender and gradually tapered to a sharp pointed terminus. D. bovis was wider but much shorter than D. ghanensis. The gnathosoma of D. bovis was roughly trapezoidal in shape, however, that of D. ghanensis was subrectangular. The epimeral plates were indistinct meeting smoothly at the midline in D. bovis and were conspicuous and longer than wide in D. ghanensis. The legs of D. bovis were stumpy with three short segments. Only the first three pairs of legs were slightly projecting outside the lateral surface of the body when D. bovis was viewed from the dorsal surface, but in D. ghanensis, the four pairs of legs were projecting outside the lateral surface of the body and directed forwards. The opisthosoma was gradually tapered to a rounded terminus and transversely striated in D. bovis and in D. ghanensis it was cylindrical, with faint annulations and gradually tapered to a sharp pointed terminus. The proctodeal pore of D. bovis was a saclike structure compressed dorso-ventrally and in D. ghanensis, it was absent. The ova were oval and ellipsoid in D. bovis and D. ghanensis respectively. Distinct morphological differences were observed between the two mites in the shape of the gnathosoma, podosoma and opithosoma, epimeral plates, legs, shape and position of genital organs, and ova. The morphometric and morphologic characteristics of Demodex species other than D. bovis and D. ghanensis isolated from domestic animals in the Sudan should be investigated.

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