#dailymitepic — Public Fediverse posts

#Arachtober 28: clover mite (_Bryobia_) in a bright patch of lichen.

#ArthroBeauty #LichenSubscribe #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #CloverMites #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

Anyway, #InternationalRockFlippingDay finds: a vine weevil (*Otiorhynchus* of some kind), and a bryobiine spider mite, see e.g. *Petrobia*.

#bugstodon #DailyMitePic #arachnids #mites #SpiderMites #insects #beetles #weevils #Coleoptera #Curculionidae #Entiminae #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

Little red mites of spring!

- A larval sidewalk mite (_Balaustium_) eating pollen
- A young whirligig mite (family Anystidae) eating clover mite eggs (the little reddish balls)
- Sumo mites (_Allothrombium_) wrestling
- and lastly, a clover mite (_Bryobia_), which isn't really that red when full grown but which all of the other mites are frequently misidentified as. They won't be out much longer, they go dormant in the hot months.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Erythraeidae #Anystidae #Trombidiidae #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

#MiteMonday: it's that time of year again! A sheet-web weaver's web in a willow tree crevice is carpeted with tiny _Bryobia_ clover mites.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

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

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

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

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

#MiteMonday × #LichenSubscribe: we got some flurries today, but at a few degrees above zero the clover mites (_Bryobia_) are still out and about. Here's one climbing over a tiny crumb of lichen.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #CloverMites • #Acari #Acariformes #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

Thrilling moment today. I had flipped a log and was trying (with limited success) to get in-focus photos of this mesostigmatid mite when a tiny springtail ran directly into its path. To my surprise the mite seized it immediately and then, antenniform front legs aloft, hurried off looking for somewhere safe to consume its prize.

I knew, of course, that mesostigs like this were predatory; I'd just never witnessed the actual predating!

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

I decided to go back and see if I could find that beetle again and get more pictures, and I did!! While these beetles have potent chemical defenses in the form of caustic oil they secrete, this one was quite placid and let me get up close with the clip-on phone lenses, even crawling onto my hand at one point.

The mite mostly stayed under the beetle's chin, but occasionally ran around its head.

A passerby asked what I was looking at and I am afraid I was not the best or most observant conversationalist, as I was busy taking all the pictures I could get, but he seemed familiar with the concept of phoretic mites at least, and remarked that perhaps the mites gained some benefit or protection from the beetle's secretions.

This BugGuide observation <https://bugguide.net/node/view/31709> seems similar?

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #bugstodon #insects #beetles • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Coleoptera #Meloidae

The best thing I saw today. On and around Hawk Hill, the low hill near the café, several beautiful large _Meloe_ oil beetles were voraciously eating green vegetation. These were a prize all on their own and I took pictures of all of them. Later, at the café, I was going over the photos when I noticed one of them had something on its face!! A phoretic mesostigmatid mite!!!!!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #bugstodon #insects #beetles • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Coleoptera #Meloidae

#Arachtober 26: the cool weather is back and so the clover mites (_Bryobia_) are out! The tiny juvenile spiders plentiful now seemed unbothered by the crowds of mites scrambling around them.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #CloverMites #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #spiders • #Acari #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae #Araneae #Tetragnathidae

#Arachtober 19: one of my favourite finds this year, a hister beetle (family Histeridae) carrying several phoretic (hitchhiking) Uropodina mites attached via "anal pedicels", tough but stretchy stalks formed from special secretions from glands in…well, you can probably guess where. The mites are harmless to the beetle and use it to disperse to new habitats.

More on phoresy in Uropodina: https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2023.2288847 :OpenAccess:

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #phoresy #AnalPedicel • #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Uropodina

#Arachtober 4: a representative from the other mite order, Parasitiformes! The parasitiform group Mesostigmata does contain some infamous parasites, but many—like this one here—are soil-dwelling predators.

(Acariformes and Parasitiformes have traditionally been grouped together under Acari, "mites", but in fact they are probably not each other's closest relatives and deserve to be treated as separate groups. Don't look too closely at higher mite classification or you will go mad.)

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

#DailyMitePic × #LichenSubscribe: went out for a walk today but it was colder and rainier than I expected and I had to go home. But I did get this shot of clover mites and their eggs nestled into the folds of lichen on a spruce tree.

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #CloverMites #Acari #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

#MiteMonday: stretching its skinny legs, a tiny clover mite (_Bryobia_) barely manages to cross a crevasse (to us, a hairline crack) on a tree trunk.

#Mitestodon #DailyMitePic #mites #Acari #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

WE GOT YOBES

(_Bryobia_ clover mites, that is. They like it cold and disappear entirely during the hot months. I've seen them in early spring, but this is the first time I've noticed them in the fall! They were crawling all over the weeping willow trees down by the lake.)

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites #CloverMites #Acari #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

#MiteMonday: clearing out old photos from my phone—this is from April, can't remember if I've posted it here. Behind a spiderweb covered with young clover mites (_Bryobia_), a red velvet mite (_Allothrombium_) ponderously makes its way up a tree.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae #Trombidiidae

went out for a walk even though it was cold and at the last tree just before i was about to go home i think i sAW ANYSTIDS EATING CLOVER MITE EGGS??!? will upload video but in meanwhile here's a picture

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Anystidae #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae