spp. detection in laelapid (Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) mites collected from small rodents in Lithuania.

The genus contains facultative Gram-negative intracellular bacteria from the family Bartonellaceae that can cause diseases in humans and animals. Various species have been detected in rodents' ectoparasites, such as fleas, ticks, mites, and lice. However, the role of laelapid mites (Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) as carriers of spp. needs to be confirmed. We aimed to investigate the presence of spp. in laelapid mites collected from small rodents in Lithuania using real-time PCR targeting the transfer-messenger RNA/tmRNA () gene and to characterize strains using nested PCR and sequence analysis of the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic transcribed spacer region (ITS). A total of 271 laelapid mites of five species ( and ) were collected from five rodent species (, , and ) during 2015-2016. DNA was detected in three mite species and with an overall prevalence of 11.4%. Sequence analysis of the 16S-23S rRNA ITS region revealed the presence of in , and , and in . Our results suggest that laelapid mites are involved in the maintenance of rodent-associated spp. in nature. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the presence of spp. DNA in laelapid mites from small rodents.