Family: Chuviridae

Genus: Boscovirus

Distinguishing features

Boscoviruses are primarily distinguished from viruses of other genera in the family based on nucleic acid sequence and organization differences (Di Paola et al., 2022). Members of the genus Boscovirus have L protein sequences that are >31% identical to each other.

Genome organization and replication

Boscoviruses have bisegmented circular genomes of 9.1–9.2 kb (S1: about 6.8 kb; S2: about 2.3 kb) encoding a large (L) protein with an RNA-directed RNA polymerase (RdRP) domain, and a nucleoprotein (NP), respectively (Li et al., 2015). The replication cycle of boscoviruses remains to be elucidated.

Biology

The two classified boscoviruses, Wǔhàn louse fly virus 6 (WhLFV6) and Wǔhàn louse fly virus 7 (WhLFV7), have been associated with unspecified louse flies (Hippoboscidae) in China (Li et al., 2015).

Species demarcation criteria

Members of different boscovirus species have amino-acid identities of complete L sequences of <90% (Di Paola et al., 2022).