SUMMARY The present work was carried out in the region of "Zona da Mata-MG", Brazil, during three months. Sixteen crossbreed cows and nineteen Holstein-Friesian cows from four herds were used. The work aimed to characterize coagulase negative Staphylococcus spp. from those animals. The mammary quarters which reacted positive with the California Mastitis test on four consecutive weeks were sampled. A total of 166 strains were isolated. The identified species and the percentage of isolation were as follows: S. epidermidis (71.55%), S. hyicus subsp. chromogenes (6.03%), S. simulans (6.03%), S. warneri (4.31%), S. hominis (3.45%), S. cohnii (3.45%), S. sciuri (3.45%) and S. haemolyticus (1.73%).
mastitis; coagulase negative Staphylococcus; subclinical mastitis
