#trombidiidae — Public Fediverse posts

Some arachnids from today:

- young _Mangora_ orbweaver
- _Naphrys pulex_ (I think?), considering some kind of hymenopteran
- and most excitingly, Trombidiidae that aren't _Allothrombium_! I'm not quite sure whether they're both _Trombidium_, the first one is oddly not velvety at all but more rough-textured, and more flat than plump, like Smarididae if it were trombidiid-shaped. I am going to upload the pics to BugGuide to see what the experts say.

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #spiders #mites #Araneae #Araneidae #Salticidae #Acari #Acariformes #Parasitengona #Trombidiidae

Some arachnids from today:

- young _Mangora_ orbweaver
- _Naphrys pulex_ (I think?), considering some kind of hymenopteran
- and most excitingly, Trombidiidae that aren't _Allothrombium_! I'm not quite sure whether they're both _Trombidium_, the first one is oddly not velvety at all but more rough-textured, and more flat than plump, like Smarididae if it were trombidiid-shaped. I am going to upload the pics to BugGuide to see what the experts say.

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #spiders #mites #Araneae #Araneidae #Salticidae #Acari #Acariformes #Parasitengona #Trombidiidae

Some arachnids from today:

- young _Mangora_ orbweaver
- _Naphrys pulex_ (I think?), considering some kind of hymenopteran
- and most excitingly, Trombidiidae that aren't _Allothrombium_! I'm not quite sure whether they're both _Trombidium_, the first one is oddly not velvety at all but more rough-textured, and more flat than plump, like Smarididae if it were trombidiid-shaped. I am going to upload the pics to BugGuide to see what the experts say.

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #spiders #mites #Araneae #Araneidae #Salticidae #Acari #Acariformes #Parasitengona #Trombidiidae

Some arachnids from today:

- young _Mangora_ orbweaver
- _Naphrys pulex_ (I think?), considering some kind of hymenopteran
- and most excitingly, Trombidiidae that aren't _Allothrombium_! I'm not quite sure whether they're both _Trombidium_, the first one is oddly not velvety at all but more rough-textured, and more flat than plump, like Smarididae if it were trombidiid-shaped. I am going to upload the pics to BugGuide to see what the experts say.

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #spiders #mites #Araneae #Araneidae #Salticidae #Acari #Acariformes #Parasitengona #Trombidiidae

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

#Arachtober #MiteMonday: just a good old red velvet mite (_Allothrombium_).

Just imagine having a guinea pig-sized one, as a pet. It would be soft and squishy. It would enjoy squeezing into little crevices to nap. You could brush it, very gently. It wouldn't see very well. It could climb up things with little retractable claws. You could probably feed it mealworms.

#ArthroBeauty #arachnids #mites #Acari #Acariformes #Prostigmata #Parasitengona #Trombidiidae

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: 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

#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

During this recent spate of warmish weather I've been checking my go-to sumo mite (_Allothrombium_) trees. It's still too early for a dense population, but there are definitely a few out and about!

Here's an earlier video I took of sumo mites wrestling: https://youtu.be/qZ0Ml6VXujg

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae

Red velvet mites (family Trombidiidae) seem to have retractable claws at the ends of their soft, stubby legs. They're barely big enough for me to get a photo of but I'm obsessed with them.

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

#Arachtober 15: an _Allothrombium_ red velvet mite I found recently. I'd never noticed one missing legs before. This one is missing the front two left legs!

This is an adult. I wonder if mites can regenerate legs between molts like spiders? It's complicated by the fact that many mites have distinct life stages and can change a lot in both body and lifestyle between molts, they don't just get bigger. Should look this up…

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

#MiteMonday: went back to my "sumo mite tree" by the lake a couple weeks ago. Their season is well over, but I still found a few wandering around.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae

#MiteMonday: your regular dose of sumo mite shenanigans.

I think the larger one may be a female? The aggressive mites don't try to fight it.

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium

#MiteMonday: 🎶 Started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this, it was only a kiss, it was only a kiss 🎶

I've come across red velvet mites snacking on a wide range of dead arthropods, but this is the first time I found one feeding on an ant!

The second pic is a live ant of the same kind, seen nearby, for comparison.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #insects #ants #Hymenoptera #Formicidae

#MiteMonday: a red velvet mite, knocked over and playing dead, slowly uncurls. I just think this is too cute.

Marked sensitive because the video is kind of shaky at the start, in case anyone else is prone to vertigo with shaky videos like me.

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium

it's over anakin, i have the high ground

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #MiteBehaviour

Saturday night's all right for (sumo mite) fighting

edit: you can also see much smaller clover mites (_Bryobia_) moving around in the periphery. They are the bluish ones with threadlike pink-orange legs. That is their full size. For comparison, the sumo mites are like 4mm tops?

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #MiteBehaviour

That Lady and the Tramp scene with the spaghetti, but it's these sumo mites (_Allothrombium_) feeding on a dead midge (family Chironomidae).

Also later they started fighting, but I'm not sure if they were fighting over the midge or just regular sumo mite fighting.

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #MiteBehaviour

Got a lot of fighting sumo mite (_Allothrombium_) video/pics today!

In this pic you can see how the mites' pedipalps have little claws or thumbs on the end. Arachnid pedipalps are (of course) modified legs, the same appendages as scorpion and pseudoscorpion pincers, amblypygids' thorny elbowed claws, etc. In female spiders they are kind of like "hands", simple short feelers/holders, but in mature male spiders the various parts that would have been leg bits are repurposed to become highly elaborate sperm transfer organs. APPENDAGES!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #macro

This #MiteMonday, come face-to-face with a sumo mite (_Allothrombium_). That gaze may seem piercing, but from their behaviour they seem to be quite blind.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #macro

#MiteMonday: Went to visit the Sumo Mite Tree today as it was slightly warmer than yesterday. There were plenty of mites, but unfortunately they were not really in a fightin' mood, at least not before I got cold (I underdressed) and had to go back. I did capture this great flip takedown though.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium

The sumo mites (_Allothrombium_) are out and wrestling!!!

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae

@frankashwood For #MiteMonday (it's still Monday here): what could be more festive than red and green?

#Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Eriophyidae #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

@frankashwood For #MiteMonday (it's still Monday here): what could be more festive than red and green?

#Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Eriophyidae #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

@frankashwood For #MiteMonday (it's still Monday here): what could be more festive than red and green?

#Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Eriophyidae #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

@frankashwood For #MiteMonday (it's still Monday here): what could be more festive than red and green?

#Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Eriophyidae #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

@frankashwood For #MiteMonday (it's still Monday here): what could be more festive than red and green?

#Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Eriophyidae #Tetranychidae #Bryobiinae

#MiteMonday: stopped by Trinity-Bellwoods today and was delighted to find that, despite the frosty ground, there were still red velvet mites (_Allothrombium_) out and about!

Bonus "accidental front camera" selfie. (POV: you're a red velvet mite)

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #RedVelvetMites #Acari #Trombidiidae #macro

#Arachtober 27: The trunk of a regal yellow tree (linden or something similar?) was busy with mites. I found a tiny cobweb spider feeding on a whirligig mite, and a red velvet mite feeding on prey in another cobweb spider's web!

#DailySpiderPic #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #MiteBehaviour #arachnids #spiders #mites #Acari #Anystidae #Trombidiidae #Araneae #Theridiidae

#Arachtober 2: at the foot of a tree, a red velvet mite (_Allothrombium_) feeds on a male midge (family Chironomidae).

Not happy with the photo lighting, but it was a cool observation.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae

I was taking a picture of this red velvet mite in the park when a lady walking a dog was like "is that a bug?" and I showed her the mite and she mentioned seeing some box elder bugs mating and we discussed how cool molting cicadas are. ^_^

#ArthroBeauty #bugstodon #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #macro

Let's check in on the local mites.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Anystidae #Trombidiidae #Tetranychidae #Bdellidae #macro

it's #MiteMonday

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #macro

#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

#MiteMonday continued: the mite decided to disembark by going between the aphid's cornicles, the two spikes sticking up from its butt, but found it a tight squeeze! It did manage to get off though. It briefly sat beside the aphid before wandering off.

This'll go up on iNaturalist :inaturalist: when I've gotten through my photo backlog. But if anyone on here can provide more insight, I'm all ears! (2/2)

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #MiteBehaviour #arachnids #mites #RedVelvetMites #Acari #Trombidiidae #macro

For #MiteMonday, I saw this interesting interaction between a red velvet mite and an aphid the other day!

I've seen *larval* red velvet mites parasitizing aphids—latched on like ticks—and I've seen adult red velvet mites preying on aphids, but it looked like this small but adult red velvet mite was parasitizing the aphid??

After I took the first picture the mite started to climb off the aphid, showing it was clearly old enough to be free-living. (1/2)

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #MiteBehaviour #arachnids #mites #RedVelvetMites #Acari #Trombidiidae #macro

#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

the perils of being a sumo mite

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #sumo #macro

This one red velvet mite was very interested in a small insect pupa of some kind. https://youtu.be/TxRUAw3pqkA

#DailyMitePic #DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #RedVelvetMites #macro

Enjoy 1:45 of red velvet mites (Trombidiidae) bumbling around in the leaf litter while a band jams in the background and _Lasius_(?) ants industriously excavate.

https://youtu.be/x1Y6JqGuoBQ

#DailyMitePic #DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #mites #Acari #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #RedVelvetMites #macro

To my surprise, last week I found some red velvet mites (_Allothrombium_) out and about, albeit very slow, at the roots of the river birch in Trinity-Bellwoods!

#DailyMitePic #Trombidiidae #Allothrombium #arachnids #mites #Mitestodon