Discovery of the feline fur-mite Lynxacarus radovskyi in a cat resident in New Zealand

The feline fur mite (Lynxacarus radovskyi) was first reported in Hawaii (Tenorio 1974) and since then has been observed North and South America, Asia and Australia (Bowman and Domrow 1978; Craig et al. 1993; Clare et al. 2004; Jeffery et al. 2012). There are eight species in the Lynxacarus genus and they are more commonly found on mustelids, lagomorphs and rodents than on Felidae (Craig et al. 1993). The mite was previously identified in New Zealand in a cat imported from Western Samoa during routine quarantine checks (Heath and Mariadass 1999).