ORIGINAL ARTICLE Characterization of Dermanyssus gallinae (Acarina: Dermanissydae) by sequence analysis of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer regions L. Potenza & M. A. Cafiero & A. Camarda & G. La Salandra & L. Cucchiarini & M. Dachà Accepted: 23 January 2009 / Published online: 13 February 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract In the present work mites previously identified as Dermanyssus gallinae De Geer (Acari, Mesostigmata) using morphological keys were investigated by molecular tools. The complete internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1), 5.8S ribosomal DNA, and ITS2 region of the ribosomal DNA from mites were amplified and sequenced to examine the level of sequence variations and to explore the feasibility of using this region in the identification of this mite. Conserved primers located at the 3’end of 18S and at the 5’ start of 28S rRNA genes were used first, and amplified fragments were sequenced. Sequence analyses showed no variation in 5.8S and ITS2 region while slight intraspecific variations involving substitutions as well as deletions concentrated in the ITS1 region. Based on the sequence analyses a nested PCR of the ITS2 region followed by RFLP analyses has been set up in the attempt to provide a rapid molecular diagnostic tool of D. gallinae. Keywords Dermanyssus gallinae . Internal transcribed spacer . Mites . Polymerase chain reaction Introduction Dermanyssus gallinae, De Geer, 1778 (Acari, Mesostigmata) (i.e. “poultry red mite or chicken mite”) is a cosmopolitan nocturnal blood-sucking ectoparasite of primarily poultry Vet Res Commun (2009) 33:611–618 DOI 10.1007/s11259-009-9210-y L. Potenza (*) : L. Cucchiarini Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo” Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Via A. Saffi, 2 Urbino 61029, Italy e-mail: lucia.potenza@uniurb.it M. A. Cafiero : G. La Salandra Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Foggia, Italy A. Camarda Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Zootecnia, Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari, Italy L. Cucchiarini : M. Dachà Centro Integrato di Ricerche, Università Campus Bio-Medico, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 21 Roma, Italy