Family: Artoviridae

Genus: Hexartovirus

Distinguishing features

Members of the genus Hexartovirus infect sea lice (copepods) or barnacles.

Lepeophtheirus salmonis negative-strand RNA virus 1 (LsNSRV-1) was detected in salmon lice infecting farmed Atlantic salmon in Norway. LsNSRV-1 was present in various tissues of male and female salmon lice and was detected in all developmental stages. Viral RNA is detected in both the cytoplasm and nucleoli of infected cells (Økland et al., 2019). There is no available data on virion structure.

Species demarcation criteria

No species demarcation criteria have been established beyond virus phylogeny and hosts. Viruses classified in the two Hexartovirus species differ by 71% in L amino acid sequence, although sequence divergence is not currently used as a formal species demarcation criterion.