Intramural Dust Mites

Mites are arachnids belonging to Phylum Arthropoda. They are characterized by the presence of four pairs of legs, cosmopolitan in distribution. They are small, microscopic and are parasitizing majority of animals specially birds and mammals. The hair clasping mites are common on rodents. They exhibit prolific biodiversity. More than 3000 mites have been known to found in various habitats was reported by Tilak et. al. in 1994. Previously these mites were considered to be present only on temperate countries, but it is known that they are also abundant in tropical countries too. Domestic mites are free living which are found in house environment that belongs to two ecological groups: HDM and storage mites. There are also parasitic and predatory mites. The presence of mites in the house dust is known to come from stored food. Some HDM are found in birds like chicken, fowl, duck, pigeon etc. it causes various infections in birds- externally and internally (S. B. Jogdand 2007 Endemic Bio Resource of India). Some of them have also been found to cause diseases in poultry birds and poultry workers, and create ecological imbalance in nature. It also results into aero bio pollution problems.