Scaly foot, or knemidocoptiasis is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

ailment A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that ar ...

that is common among caged birds and also affects many other bird species. It is caused by

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

s in the genus ''

Knemidokoptes ''Knemidokoptes'' is a genus of parasitic mites in the family Epidermoptidae that infect the skin or feather follicles of birds, especially gallinaceous birds (chickens, pheasants, and relatives) as well as parakeets and Atlantic canary, canaries ...

'' which burrow into the bird's flesh. The tunnels made by the mites within the skin cause dermatitis and scaly

lesion A lesion is any damage or abnormal change in the tissue of an organism, usually caused by disease or trauma. ''Lesion'' is derived from the Latin "injury". Lesions may occur in plants as well as animals. Types There is no designated classifi ...

s. Scaly face is caused by the same mite responsible for scaly foot and other related mites cause depluming. The condition is transmitted from one bird to another by direct prolonged contact.

Causes

Scaly foot, otherwise known as knemidocoptiasis, is caused by burrowing mites in the genus ''

''. The condition can be compared with

sarcoptic mange Mange is a type of skin disease caused by parasitic mites. Because various species of mites also infect plants, birds and reptiles, the term "mange", or colloquially "the mange", suggesting poor condition of the skin and fur due to the infection ...

in mammals, but does not seem to cause the same level of itching. The birds chiefly affected are

galliformes Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often ...

(chickens and turkeys), passerines (finches, canaries, sparrows, robins, wrens), and

psittacine Psittacinae is a subfamily of Afrotropical or Old World parrots, native to sub-Saharan Africa, which include twelve species and two extant genera. Among the species is the iconic grey parrot. The ''Poicephalus'' are usually green birds wit ...

birds (parrots, macaws, parakeets, budgerigars). The condition sometimes additionally affects

piciformes Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes , the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, of ...

(woodpeckers, toucans) and

anseriformes Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

(ducks, geese, swans), raptors and other birds. The two species of mite most often implicated are ''K. jamaicensis'' and ''K. intermedius''. Other related species of mite affect feather follicles and cause depluming. The mites are mostly transmitted by prolonged direct contact, particularly from parent bird to unfledged nestling.

Symptoms

Scaly foot causes lesions of the skin with dermatitis and thickening of the skin. Commonly known as scaly face, scaly legs, or tassel foot, knemidocoptiasis affects primarily the face and legs of birds around the world worldwide and can be fatal.

Etymology

''Knemidocoptic mange'' eʺmĭ-do-kopʹtik mānj From the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''manducare'' (to itch), mange is a skin disease caused by mites in domestic and wild animals. Knemidocoptic, from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''knemid'' (greave, a piece of armor that protects the leg) and ''koptein'' (to cut), refers to the morphology and pathogenesis of mites of the genus ''

'', which are burrowing mites of birds.

References

''This article incorporates public domain text from the CDC as cited''

Causes

Symptoms

Etymology

References

See also

External links