Lmst

Still the depths of winter here. I have been having dreams about bugs. I recently had a dream about finding plump whirligig mites everywhere: some their usual orange-red, others greenish because they had just eaten something green…I miss the mites.

Here are some whirligig mites I found a couple of years ago on a rock down by the lake, fighting over a dead midge. #iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/225382565 :inaturalist:

#MiteMonday #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acariformes #Anystidae

Three whirligig mites, somewhat squarish mites with spiky legs and wide-set little eyes, around a dead midge. Each of them has seized a different part of the midge in their mouthparts: head, legs, thorax. One is yellow-orange, one is orange, and the third is orange-red.

A sudden blur of motion as each one tries to chase the others off.

The yellow-orange and orange mites are on either side of the midge's thorax, and the red-orange one has a leg.

However, at the end the red-orange one has ended up with the mite and is feeding on the abdomen.

Been a long time since I posted anything for #MiteMonday, but I was going through my camera and found this one I don't think I've shared before! Just a good old _Allothrombium_ red velvet mite.

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Trombidiidae

A soft, wrinkled bright red mite with a somewhat peanut-shaped body and robust legs, creeping down a shallow valley of lichen-spattered tree bark.

#MiteMonday: a tiny _Podocinum_ mite found under a rock. Its extremely thin elongated front legs have forked hairs at the end, and it seems to use these legs like antennae to navigate.

Much better pictures here: https://bugguide.net/node/view/514391

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Podocinidae

A small relatively hairless reddish-brown mite reaching out with extremely long front legs, so thin they are almost invisible except where the light catches them, towards some random debris on the underside of a rock.

In this photo you can see more of the bristles on its body and the forked hairs at the end of each front leg.

The mite approaches and tentatively touches a white snail shell, which is several times its size but still extremely tiny.

#MiteMonday: ever look down and see a bunch of little red guys on the pavement or whatever? Chances are they're long-legged velvet mites (family Erythraeidae) in the genus _Balaustium_. Practically all of their relatives are parasitic on other arthropods as larvae and predatory as adults, but some common _Balaustium_ species are lifelong pollen-eaters. Here's one eating peony pollen I put down.

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Parasitengona #Erythraeidae

For #MiteMonday: mites eating things.

1. Long-legged velvet mites (family Erythraeidae, probably _Balaustium_) eating a midge
2. A whirligig mite (family Anystidae) eating a globular springtail
3. A snout mite (family Bdellidae) eating a barklouse

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Erythraeidae #Anystidae #Bdellidae

A dead midge on a rock, with several fuzzy, oblong red mites clinging to it.

An orange mite with a star- or asterisk-like arrangement of spiky legs feeding on a small round black springtail. It is on a rough black surface and there is not enough light, so the mite is rather washed out.

On a pine tree, a red-orange mite sticks its pointy, weevil-like snout into the face of a yellowish barklouse.

Bonus #MiteMonday: a _Balaustium_ sidewalk mite feeding on pollen from a horse-chestnut flower (which I put down to attract them and get photos).

These mites can be found in great numbers this time of year, very visible on surfaces like concrete and bricks, hence the name. As well as pollen and sap I've seen them feeding on dead bugs. Some are purely raspberry-red, others have this longer white coat or just white patches, others have a gorgeous blue-green iridescent sheen.

The pair of red protuberances are not eyes but special structures called urnulae, which secrete various useful substances like a defensive chemical/alarm pheromone, and a "waterproofing" compound that prevents their cuticle from drying out (useful as they spend a lot of time running around in the sun).

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acariformes #Erythraeidae

A dark red mite with long legs and a short white velvety coat, just in the middle of feeding on a clump of bright orange-red pollen on a paving-stone. It's dwarfed by the long curved white stamen of a horse-chestnut flower, topped with a very large mass of pollen.

It's still #MiteMonday somewhere…

Vignette from under a log. A snout mite (family Bdellidae) feeds on the remains of a springtail, with a guest appearance from a beetle mite (order? suborder? Oribatida)*.

* Above superfamily or so, mite taxonomic ranks start getting contentious.

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acariformes #Bdellidae #Oribatida

Belated #MiteMonday: it's the time of year I start carrying a little water dropper bottle for the whirligig mites. I've found it's a reliable way to get them to stay still for photos. 💧

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Anystidae

A tiny, squarish orange mite drinks from a drop of water that has sunk into the wooden picnic table it's on.

#MiteMonday: this weekend I got out to my sumo mite (_Allothrombium_) tree to catch some wrestling bouts!

It is some kind of sexual competition thing: certain males seem to stake out a little patch and aggressively defend it against all comers. The females, I think, are the larger ones who take little notice of the fights and mostly wedge themselves into crevices in bark? Courtship rituals seem to involve leg-tapping and walking around each other in circles. I am wildly curious about what's actually going on.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #RedVelvetMites #SumoMites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Trombidiidae

Two red velvet mites, plump, wrinkly mites with broad "shoulders" and narrower butts, start to grapple on a lichen-speckled tree root shaded by grass.

Another pair of mites try to grip each other with their long front legs, just like sumo wrestlers. Their fuzzy pelts are easier to see in this photo.

One mite tries to sink its pedipalps into its opponent. They're also on a near-vertical surface.

The hollowed, gnarled tree root in the grass where all these dramas are taking place. If you zoom in you can see a number of mites near the centre. They are about 2-4mm in body length.

#MiteMonday: a red velvet mite (_Allothrombium_) sneakily snacks on midges from a spider's web. I also saw a red-winged blackbird eating a midge-filled spiderweb, too. At this time of year, the few spiders that overwintered catch so many midges that their webs almost collapse under the weight—more than they could possibly eat. I wonder how much midge biomass these spiders inadvertently make available to other animals!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #RedVelvetMites #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Trombidiidae

On a bright yellow-painted post, a plush red velvet mite sinks its mouthparts into a dead midge caught in spiderweb.

I almost forgot it was #MiteMonday! Inspired by @zorbama's shot of a running crab spider, clover mite, and midge all together (https://veganism.social/@zorbama/114373000260983349), here's a running crab spider (_Philodromus_) I found feeding on a clover mite (_Bryobia_). I don't actually often find many arthropods feeding on the adults, though I've seen predatory _Anystis_ mites eating the eggs.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders #Acari #Acariformes #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae #Araneae #Philodromidae

A small, flat, crablike grey-brown spider perched on a large rock with something light red and leggy in its jaws.

A closer shot from a better angle shows the dark blueish body and thin light red legs and mouthparts of a clover mite.

I almost forgot it was #MiteMonday! From under one of my reliable dead logs just a few days ago, a mesostig with its prey, a tiny white springtail; a slug for scale; and a smaller, paler mesostig crossing paths with another springtail (which it did not try to eat).

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #springtails #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Collembola #Poduromorpha

A teardrop-shaped red-brown mite with a small translucent white thing in its mouthparts. It could be mistaken for an ant pupa but I promise it's a springtail.

The same mite and its prey are dwarfed by a small slug also on the underside of the log.

Another white springtail, this one identifiable as a poduromorph, comes face-to-face with a light brown mesostig only a little longer than itself. The mite's front pair of legs are long and thin, used a bit like antennae.

The first #MiteMonday in a while! The wet dead leaves are a bountiful source of predatory mesostigmatid mites.

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata

A teardrop-shaped reddish-brown mite on a golden-brown leaf. Its long thin front legs are reaching out in front of it.

A blurry photo of a different mite, this one with a gap between the red-brown plates covering the top and bottom of its body, leaving a crescent of white cuticle visible. It's booking it across the surface of a dead log.

Yet another mesostig at the edge of a dead leaf.

#MiteMonday: wintertime rock flipping turned up some penthaleids and those iridescent purple springtails, not quite sure what they are. They were about the same size (see third photo).

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Penthaleidae #springtails #Collembola

A little dark blue mite with bright red legs, mouthparts, and dorsal anus, walking across a rock stained orange with rust.

A slender springtail covered with iridescent blue-purple scales, on the same rock.

Mite and springtail crossing paths. The photo is mostly out of focus, but you can see they are roughly the same size.

Gotta post something for the last #MiteMonday of the year. Here's some mesostigs (family Parasitidae or thereabouts?), predators of the undergrowth, making their way across alien landscapes of fungus and leaf litter on the underside of a dead log.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata

#MiteMonday

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