[Variability in scabies mites Sarcoptes scabiei De Geer (Acariformes, Sarcoptidae) in relation to scabies epidemiology. 1. A statistical model of female variability].

Individual variability of 235 grain mite females from Moscow and the Moscow Province was studied. The data were processed on a computer. Body proportions were used as a representative dimension index. The size of proterosomal scutellum was stable. A map of the chaetoid cover of notum is given, and its variability was studied. Statistical analysis of all signs was made. Frontal chaetoid and sejugal sections and the number of caudal chaetoids are stable. Naked, middle and abdominal chaetoid sections are the most variable. Linear sizes of naked section and the number of chaetoid sets on middle and abdominal sections correlate with the number of undeveloped chaetoids. The statistical model of variability may be useful for populational analysis of Sarcoptes forms in connection with scab epidemiology.