#phoresy — Public Fediverse posts

@colinburgess @stojg Ah, that insane photo. I've seen that before. I expect that weasel was probably about as freaked out as the woodpecker.

Here's another moth hitch-hiker from the Boyle where I found my springtail. We often get pseudoscorpions riding in on the moths.

This moth had the misfortune of having a pseudoscorpion hanging onto its face.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#phoresy #entomology #pseudoscorpion #nz

@colinburgess @stojg Ah, that insane photo. I've seen that before. I expect that weasel was probably about as freaked out as the woodpecker.

Here's another moth hitch-hiker from the Boyle where I found my springtail. We often get pseudoscorpions riding in on the moths.

This moth had the misfortune of having a pseudoscorpion hanging onto its face.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#phoresy #entomology #pseudoscorpion #nz

@colinburgess @stojg Ah, that insane photo. I've seen that before. I expect that weasel was probably about as freaked out as the woodpecker.

Here's another moth hitch-hiker from the Boyle where I found my springtail. We often get pseudoscorpions riding in on the moths.

This moth had the misfortune of having a pseudoscorpion hanging onto its face.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#phoresy #entomology #pseudoscorpion #nz

@colinburgess @stojg Ah, that insane photo. I've seen that before. I expect that weasel was probably about as freaked out as the woodpecker.

Here's another moth hitch-hiker from the Boyle where I found my springtail. We often get pseudoscorpions riding in on the moths.

This moth had the misfortune of having a pseudoscorpion hanging onto its face.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#phoresy #entomology #pseudoscorpion #nz

@colinburgess @stojg Ah, that insane photo. I've seen that before. I expect that weasel was probably about as freaked out as the woodpecker.

Here's another moth hitch-hiker from the Boyle where I found my springtail. We often get pseudoscorpions riding in on the moths.

This moth had the misfortune of having a pseudoscorpion hanging onto its face.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#phoresy #entomology #pseudoscorpion #nz

Sometimes a moth is more than it seems.

I looked twice at this moth photo I was uploading to #iNaturalist. There was an orange spot on one wing. A parasitic mite?

No! It's a globular springtail!

I'm not sure if it hitched a ride into the moth light on this moth or came in on another insect.

springtail: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/341756456
moth: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/341756462

#phoresy #Collembola #Springtail #entomology #NZ

https://www.europesays.com/ie/192803/ Pelodera: cosmopolitan phoretic saprotrophs and neglected models for origins of nematode parasitism | Parasites & Vectors #Beetle #Dauer #Decay #decomposition #Éire #Entomology #IE #InfectiousDiseases #Ireland #Necromeny #Parasitology #Phoresy #Scarabaeidae #Science #SoilHealth #TropicalMedicine #VeterinaryMedicine/VeterinaryScience #Virology

Why a #mite of the #Parasitidae (#Mesostigmata), apparently genus #Parasitellus, seemingly attacks moth #Pyrausta #despicata (Crambidae). Parasitellus develops in #bumblebee #nests and uses them for dispersal (#phoresy) to other nests, thus they leave their hosts on blossoms and wait for new hosts to be carried to new nests. The moth was detected by the mite as a #nonsuitable #phoretic #host.

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

Visit my new YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/gRAT7CIKWTk?si=hb2LC19Fmf1URVl6

Photos
©S.F. Wirth

Why a #mite of the #Parasitidae (#Mesostigmata), apparently genus #Parasitellus, seemingly attacks moth #Pyrausta #despicata (Crambidae). Parasitellus develops in #bumblebee #nests and uses them for dispersal (#phoresy) to other nests, thus they leave their hosts on blossoms and wait for new hosts to be carried to new nests. The moth was detected by the mite as a #nonsuitable #phoretic #host.

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

Visit my new YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/gRAT7CIKWTk?si=hb2LC19Fmf1URVl6

Photos
©S.F. Wirth

Why a #mite of the #Parasitidae (#Mesostigmata), apparently genus #Parasitellus, seemingly attacks moth #Pyrausta #despicata (Crambidae). Parasitellus develops in #bumblebee #nests and uses them for dispersal (#phoresy) to other nests, thus they leave their hosts on blossoms and wait for new hosts to be carried to new nests. The moth was detected by the mite as a #nonsuitable #phoretic #host.

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

Visit my new YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/gRAT7CIKWTk?si=hb2LC19Fmf1URVl6

Photos
©S.F. Wirth

Why a #mite of the #Parasitidae (#Mesostigmata), apparently genus #Parasitellus, seemingly attacks moth #Pyrausta #despicata (Crambidae). Parasitellus develops in #bumblebee #nests and uses them for dispersal (#phoresy) to other nests, thus they leave their hosts on blossoms and wait for new hosts to be carried to new nests. The moth was detected by the mite as a #nonsuitable #phoretic #host.

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

Visit my new YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/gRAT7CIKWTk?si=hb2LC19Fmf1URVl6

Photos
©S.F. Wirth

Why a #mite of the #Parasitidae (#Mesostigmata), apparently genus #Parasitellus, seemingly attacks moth #Pyrausta #despicata (Crambidae). Parasitellus develops in #bumblebee #nests and uses them for dispersal (#phoresy) to other nests, thus they leave their hosts on blossoms and wait for new hosts to be carried to new nests. The moth was detected by the mite as a #nonsuitable #phoretic #host.

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

Visit my new YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/gRAT7CIKWTk?si=hb2LC19Fmf1URVl6

Photos
©S.F. Wirth

When #animals #carry other organisms: If it is a regular dispersal strategy it can be #phoresy. When phoretic #mites, such as soil mite #Histiostoma sp. (#Astigmata) here, disperse #fungi themselves, this can be hyperphoresy. The mating adult mites in my #SEM carry #macroconidia, presumably of Ascomycota. Adult mites aren't the phoretic stage, thus they can disperse a fungus only within their limited #habitat.
©#StefanFWirth Berlin 2025

Reference
S. F. Wirth (2023)
https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/GSP/GSOIL4N/GSOIL4N-Posters/ID_167.pdf

#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 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 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 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 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

#MiteMonday: spotted this absolutely tiny wasp on the path by the tracks behind Fort York. It was only later when looking at the photos that I realized it had a mite passenger! Astigmata, maybe?

#iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.ca/observations/235406415
And for the wasp if anyone can narrow it down: https://www.inaturalist.ca/observations/235405898 :inaturalist:

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #wasps #phoresy • #Acari #Hymenoptera

Got a real corker for you all this #MiteMonday! Found this hister beetle (family Histeridae) covered in odd filaments, a few with shiny round brown things attached to the ends.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "It's some kind of fungus, like _Cordyceps_"—you're thinking of _Ophiocordyceps_, it got reclassified—"or _Hesperomyces virescens_ on ladybugs." But Experience Hath Shewn me that it's almost never fungus.

That round, flattened shape had my inner voice going "Uropodina!" And it was right. I had thought these phoretic (hitchhiking) mites always anchored themselves flush to their host with their trademark anal pedicels™, but it turns out some excrete pedicels that are quite long and stalk-like, like this. For more information see this recent #OpenAccess paper, particularly Fig. 1: https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2023.2288847 :OpenAccess:

#iNaturalist observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/221274565 :inaturalist:

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #phoresy #AnalPedicel #Acari #Uropodina

Got a real corker for you all this #MiteMonday! Found this hister beetle (family Histeridae) covered in odd filaments, a few with shiny round brown things attached to the ends.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "It's some kind of fungus, like _Cordyceps_"—you're thinking of _Ophiocordyceps_, it got reclassified—"or _Hesperomyces virescens_ on ladybugs." But Experience Hath Shewn me that it's almost never fungus.

That round, flattened shape had my inner voice going "Uropodina!" And it was right. I had thought these phoretic (hitchhiking) mites always anchored themselves flush to their host with their trademark anal pedicels™, but it turns out some excrete pedicels that are quite long and stalk-like, like this. For more information see this recent #OpenAccess paper, particularly Fig. 1: https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2023.2288847 :OpenAccess:

#iNaturalist observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/221274565 :inaturalist:

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #phoresy #AnalPedicel #Acari #Uropodina

Got a real corker for you all this #MiteMonday! Found this hister beetle (family Histeridae) covered in odd filaments, a few with shiny round brown things attached to the ends.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "It's some kind of fungus, like _Cordyceps_"—you're thinking of _Ophiocordyceps_, it got reclassified—"or _Hesperomyces virescens_ on ladybugs." But Experience Hath Shewn me that it's almost never fungus.

That round, flattened shape had my inner voice going "Uropodina!" And it was right. I had thought these phoretic (hitchhiking) mites always anchored themselves flush to their host with their trademark anal pedicels™, but it turns out some excrete pedicels that are quite long and stalk-like, like this. For more information see this recent #OpenAccess paper, particularly Fig. 1: https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2023.2288847 :OpenAccess:

#iNaturalist observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/221274565 :inaturalist:

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #phoresy #AnalPedicel #Acari #Uropodina

Got a real corker for you all this #MiteMonday! Found this hister beetle (family Histeridae) covered in odd filaments, a few with shiny round brown things attached to the ends.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "It's some kind of fungus, like _Cordyceps_"—you're thinking of _Ophiocordyceps_, it got reclassified—"or _Hesperomyces virescens_ on ladybugs." But Experience Hath Shewn me that it's almost never fungus.

That round, flattened shape had my inner voice going "Uropodina!" And it was right. I had thought these phoretic (hitchhiking) mites always anchored themselves flush to their host with their trademark anal pedicels™, but it turns out some excrete pedicels that are quite long and stalk-like, like this. For more information see this recent #OpenAccess paper, particularly Fig. 1: https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2023.2288847 :OpenAccess:

#iNaturalist observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/221274565 :inaturalist:

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #phoresy #AnalPedicel #Acari #Uropodina

Got a real corker for you all this #MiteMonday! Found this hister beetle (family Histeridae) covered in odd filaments, a few with shiny round brown things attached to the ends.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "It's some kind of fungus, like _Cordyceps_"—you're thinking of _Ophiocordyceps_, it got reclassified—"or _Hesperomyces virescens_ on ladybugs." But Experience Hath Shewn me that it's almost never fungus.

That round, flattened shape had my inner voice going "Uropodina!" And it was right. I had thought these phoretic (hitchhiking) mites always anchored themselves flush to their host with their trademark anal pedicels™, but it turns out some excrete pedicels that are quite long and stalk-like, like this. For more information see this recent #OpenAccess paper, particularly Fig. 1: https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2023.2288847 :OpenAccess:

#iNaturalist observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/221274565 :inaturalist:

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #phoresy #AnalPedicel #Acari #Uropodina

What the ever-loving shit. Tagging @futurebird because ants and NYC https://inaturalist.ca/observations/215363522

#iNaturalist #Mitestodon #mites #Acari #phoresy

#Lemon #tree #Citrus × #limon, its fruits, their insecticidal effect, about tree-#endophytic #organisms (#microbiota) and the rotting #fruits as #habitats for #phoretic #mites (#Histiostomatidae). #Ecology, #phoresy, #phoresis, #soil, #decomposition
© #StefanFWirth Berlin2024

My #blog on #biologe + #literature:

wp.me/p2l6XU-1TF

Photos 2+3: details of small #lemontree from plant trade Berlin, 1: #Histiostoma sp. (H. #feroniarum-complex) from lemons in #Sorrento (#Italy,2006) © S. F. Wirth 2024

#Lemon #tree #Citrus × #limon, its fruits, their insecticidal effect, about tree-#endophytic #organisms (#microbiota) and the rotting #fruits as #habitats for #phoretic #mites (#Histiostomatidae). #Ecology, #phoresy, #phoresis, #soil, #decomposition
© #StefanFWirth Berlin2024

My #blog on #biologe + #literature:

wp.me/p2l6XU-1TF

Photos 2+3: details of small #lemontree from plant trade Berlin, 1: #Histiostoma sp. (H. #feroniarum-complex) from lemons in #Sorrento (#Italy,2006) © S. F. Wirth 2024

#Lemon #tree #Citrus × #limon, its fruits, their insecticidal effect, about tree-#endophytic #organisms (#microbiota) and the rotting #fruits as #habitats for #phoretic #mites (#Histiostomatidae). #Ecology, #phoresy, #phoresis, #soil, #decomposition
© #StefanFWirth Berlin2024

My #blog on #biologe + #literature:

wp.me/p2l6XU-1TF

Photos 2+3: details of small #lemontree from plant trade Berlin, 1: #Histiostoma sp. (H. #feroniarum-complex) from lemons in #Sorrento (#Italy,2006) © S. F. Wirth 2024

#Lemon #tree #Citrus × #limon, its fruits, their insecticidal effect, about tree-#endophytic #organisms (#microbiota) and the rotting #fruits as #habitats for #phoretic #mites (#Histiostomatidae). #Ecology, #phoresy, #phoresis, #soil, #decomposition
© #StefanFWirth Berlin2024

My #blog on #biologe + #literature:

wp.me/p2l6XU-1TF

Photos 2+3: details of small #lemontree from plant trade Berlin, 1: #Histiostoma sp. (H. #feroniarum-complex) from lemons in #Sorrento (#Italy,2006) © S. F. Wirth 2024

#Lemon #tree #Citrus × #limon, its fruits, their insecticidal effect, about tree-#endophytic #organisms (#microbiota) and the rotting #fruits as #habitats for #phoretic #mites (#Histiostomatidae). #Ecology, #phoresy, #phoresis, #soil, #decomposition
© #StefanFWirth Berlin2024

My #blog on #biologe + #literature:

wp.me/p2l6XU-1TF

Photos 2+3: details of small #lemontree from plant trade Berlin, 1: #Histiostoma sp. (H. #feroniarum-complex) from lemons in #Sorrento (#Italy,2006) © S. F. Wirth 2024

Don't you hate it when you pop down to your favourite flower for a refreshing sip of nectar, only to get a pseudoscorpion stuck to your face?

Freeloading floral hitchhikers!

Student Dustin Lamont found this pseudoscorpion attached to the probscis of the native NZ moth Pseudocoremia lupinata, on our ecology field trip to the Boyle Outdoor Education Centre in the Southern Alps last week.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#LinconUniversityNZ #insects #phoresy #pseudoscorpion #arachnid #nz #nature

Don't you hate it when you pop down to your favourite flower for a refreshing sip of nectar, only to get a pseudoscorpion stuck to your face?

Freeloading floral hitchhikers!

Student Dustin Lamont found this pseudoscorpion attached to the probscis of the native NZ moth Pseudocoremia lupinata, on our ecology field trip to the Boyle Outdoor Education Centre in the Southern Alps last week.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#LinconUniversityNZ #insects #phoresy #pseudoscorpion #arachnid #nz #nature

Don't you hate it when you pop down to your favourite flower for a refreshing sip of nectar, only to get a pseudoscorpion stuck to your face?

Freeloading floral hitchhikers!

Student Dustin Lamont found this pseudoscorpion attached to the probscis of the native NZ moth Pseudocoremia lupinata, on our ecology field trip to the Boyle Outdoor Education Centre in the Southern Alps last week.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#LinconUniversityNZ #insects #phoresy #pseudoscorpion #arachnid #nz #nature

Don't you hate it when you pop down to your favourite flower for a refreshing sip of nectar, only to get a pseudoscorpion stuck to your face?

Freeloading floral hitchhikers!

Student Dustin Lamont found this pseudoscorpion attached to the probscis of the native NZ moth Pseudocoremia lupinata, on our ecology field trip to the Boyle Outdoor Education Centre in the Southern Alps last week.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#LinconUniversityNZ #insects #phoresy #pseudoscorpion #arachnid #nz #nature

Don't you hate it when you pop down to your favourite flower for a refreshing sip of nectar, only to get a pseudoscorpion stuck to your face?

Freeloading floral hitchhikers!

Student Dustin Lamont found this pseudoscorpion attached to the probscis of the native NZ moth Pseudocoremia lupinata, on our ecology field trip to the Boyle Outdoor Education Centre in the Southern Alps last week.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/198463770

#LinconUniversityNZ #insects #phoresy #pseudoscorpion #arachnid #nz #nature

I was looking through my photos from my run yesterday and looked closer at this photo of a NZ large hoverfly. It has a #pseudoscorpion hitching a ride on its foot!

The Common Naturalist has an article diving into the biology of pseudoscorpions and their habit of hitching a ride on other insects. Evidence from fossil amber shows that they've been doing this for at least 44 million years.

https://commonnaturalist.com/2021/05/14/hitchhiking-pseudoscorpions/

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/195296551

#insects #phoresy #nz #nature

I was looking through my photos from my run yesterday and looked closer at this photo of a NZ large hoverfly. It has a #pseudoscorpion hitching a ride on its foot!

The Common Naturalist has an article diving into the biology of pseudoscorpions and their habit of hitching a ride on other insects. Evidence from fossil amber shows that they've been doing this for at least 44 million years.

https://commonnaturalist.com/2021/05/14/hitchhiking-pseudoscorpions/

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/195296551

#insects #phoresy #nz #nature

What is a #mite of the #Histiostomatidae doing in nests of an #antnest? About behavior, dispersal, #phoresy, life strategy. A 2008 study about the life strategy of mite #Histiostoma #bakeri (Histiostomatidae) in nests of the leafcutting ant #Atta #texana.
According to this, the desired location of the mites for mating and reproduction is the detritus chambers of the ant nest.
© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2023

Paper Wirth & Moser (2008), short summary and PDF for download: https://wp.me/p2l6XU-1Mt

from this random paper: mites riding on birds from flower to flower!

in honeyeater-riding mites, the immature mites ride on the adult mites which ride on the honeyeaters (yo dawg I heard you like phoresy…)

hummingbird-flower mites hide in hummingbird nostrils!! they must be pretty small (i hope they're small…)

Seeman, Owen D., & Walter, David Evans. (2023). Phoresy and Mites: More Than Just a Free Ride. Annual Review of Entomology (Vol. 68, Issue 1, pp. 69–88). Annual Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-120220-013329 :OpenAccess:

#OpenAccess #mites #birds #ecology #phoresy #SciComm #Acari

The tiniest hitchhikers: Nematodes leap onto bumblebees via electric fields - A nematode (C. elegans) jumps onto a bumblebee along an electrical f... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1948727 #ecosystems #c.elegans #nematodes #science #animals #biology #phoresy #physics

#MiteMonday: I was taking a photo of this red velvet mite (family Trombidiidae) when I noticed something on its butt. To my great surprise, it was another mite—a mesostigmatid, which are often hitchhikers on other arthropods. I haven't seen anything similar on trombidiids before, to my knowledge. Anyone know what's going on here?

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Mesostigmata #phoresy