Lmst

#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

A small teardrop-shaped red-brown mite with thick, claw-like second legs and long thin antenna-like first legs crosses a velvety mat of fungus towards a wet dead leaf.

A similar-looking mite (you can see the differences in the legs better from this angle) on a broad, cratered and rippled mat of fungus with variegated patches of beige, yellow-brown, and dark brown, with black specks all over. There are no other visible large lifeforms.

#MiteMonday: checked out my favourite dead logs, got more pictures of mesostigs preying on springtails!!

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

A somewhat flattened teardrop-shaped red-brown mite on a wet dead log surrounded by a flat sea of velvety fungus. It's holding a tiny white springtail in its mouthparts, with several other springtails of the same kind around it.

On a pale dead log, a teardrop-shaped golden-brown mite carries a faintly purple springtail in its mouthparts.

#MiteMonday, perhaps.
Not entirely sure these are mites, as I know next to nothing about them.

#iNaturalist thinks it might be Linopodes.

Saw them when I turned over a piece of rotting wood to have a better look at the bottom of the fungi growing on it.

#arthropods #mites #fungi #nature

A very small light yellow arthropod, probably a mite.

Close up of the bottom of a bracket fungus growing on a piece of rotting wood.

The overall colour is brown but with lighter and darker patches. There is a fine network of little holes. In some of the holes you can see tiny water droplets. There are also quite a few tiny mites running around.

Small yellow mite on a piece of wood. The wood is a warm light brown with some black stains and one rather large white patch (I'm guessing some kind of mold).

Bottom of a bracket fungus with vertical pores.

#MiteMonday: Astig explosion!!!

I had been putting off making a new tub of fruit fly medium and excelsior for the flightless fruit flies, and discovered the other day that the current tub had quite the population of astigmatid mites, feeding off the same stuff and emerging in great numbers to swarm the outside of the tub during the warmest part of the day. I was actually pretty excited about this, as I hadn't personally seen an infestation of these since childhood, long before I started doing smartphone macrophotography (as a matter of fact, long before smartphones existed, but anyway…), and posts about them on bug ID forums are, for some reason, virtually always low-res shaky videos. So I actually had a chance to get up-close photos!

Astigs, which branched off from oribatids, are a large and diverse group. Some common species, largely in the family Acaridae (like _Acarus siro_ and _Tyrophagus putrescentiae_), are found around the world as pests of stored products. They may be called "grain mites", "mold mites", "flour mites", "cheese mites", etc. They are harmless, though in huge numbers (e.g. in a bakery, barn, or grain silo) they can spoil food.

I had just been using a pantyhose sock thing to cover the fruit fly tub, but I went out and got surgical masks so I can make something less porous. I'll also make a fresh batch of fruit fly medium and toss the old tub. That should help keep the mites at a more manageable level.

I can't ID these precisely—you really need an expert with a key and a microscope—but they're likely Acaridae of some kind.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites • #Acari #Acariformes #Acaridae