Demodectic mites of the brown rat Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769) (Rodentia, Muridae) with a new finding of Demodex ratticola Bukva, 1995 (Acari, Demodecidae).

Demodex ratticola was recorded in the brown rat Rattus norvegicus from northern Poland. It is a skin mite specific to this host, previously recorded only in the Czech Republic. D. ratticola was found at a prevalence 65.0% and mean intensity 12.7 in skin samples taken from the regions of lips, nose and chin. Furthermore, three other species from the family of Demodecidae were recorded, including Demodex nanus found in skin samples from different parts of the body and characterised by the highest parameters of infestation (100.0%, 25.2), D. ratti (50.0%, 3.3) found in the head skin and D. norvegicus (30.0%, 3.5) found in the genital and anal regions. The identified demodectic mites did not cause any pathological symptoms in rats.