Note: there is a substantial amount of misinformation and fear-mongering online about bird/rodent mites, so please educate yourselves with these articles from expert scientists.
- https://extension.umn.edu/insect-relatives/bird-mites
- https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/how-to-deal-with-the-tiny-itch-inducing-bird-mite/
#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #BirdMites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Dermanyssina #Dermanyssoidea
AND THEN. On the top of the very same chair I saw a cluster of small mites that, by their size and behaviour, I first took for clover mites (unusual, since it's now kind of hot for them.) But no. They were a kind of mite I'd never seen before in real life: rodent/bird mites!!!
No idea what they were doing there. The chair was under a tree, so I suppose a bird nest or part of it could have fallen down? No traces of one nearby, though.
As I was photographing the mites, a bunch got on me and my phone. While these mites *can* bite humans and cause itching (although they cannot reproduce with only us to feed on), this is not a big deal to me because I currently have eczema/heat rash and my entire body itches already. There's nothing they can do to me that hasn't already been done!!!
I'm kicking myself for not having any collecting vials on me, though.
#ArthroBeauty #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #BirdMites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Dermanyssina #Dermanyssoidea #lifer
went to the park and flipped a log which was in icy ankle-deep slush but still yielded the usuals.
#bugstodon #insects #springtails #beetles #mites #Mitestodon #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Coleoptera #Staphylinidae #Collembola #Entomobryomorpha #Hymenoptera
#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
#Arachtober 4: March mating mesostig madness!
These are an ubiquitous sort of soil-dwelling predatory mites, likely in the family Parasitidae (ironically, primarily predators) in the order Mesostigmata in the superorder Parasitiformes. They are only very distantly related to the whirligig mite I posted the other day, which is in superorder Acariformes. While the two superorders are traditionally grouped together under Acari, it is likely they don't share a common ancestor and should be treated separately. So I'm counting them as a different group!
#iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/275521159 
Some pro-level photos and info about mesostigs: https://www.chaosofdelight.org/all-about-mites-mesostigmata
#ArthroBeauty #arachnids #mites #MiteSex #taxonomy #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Parasitidae
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
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Photos
©S.F. Wirth
The rain this morning brought out plenty of arthropods in the garden, including these two arachnids. A podocinid mite (https://bugguide.net/node/view/247922), a tiny mesostig with extremely long, thin front legs terminating in forked hairs; and a chthoniid pseudoscorpion, with its clawed pedipalps. Strangely akin.
#ArthroBeauty #arachnids #pseudoscorpions #mites #Pseudoscorpiones #Cthoniidae #Acari #Mesostigmata #Podocinidae
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
Flipped over a piece of log on a big dead stump and there were tons of those little iridescent blue-purple springtails, but also several mesostigs. I was watching them hoping one would catch a springtail, and one seemed to be questing about for something. Then it chased after one of the other mites, flung itself on its back, and after some tumbling around ended up clinging to its underside. Then, this. I'm not even sure what's happening, I don't even know what appendages these mites use for sperm transfer.
edit: oh yeah I forgot to add they're totally having sex
#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #MiteBehaviour #Acari #Mesostigmata
The first #MiteMonday in a while! The wet dead leaves are a bountiful source of predatory mesostigmatid mites.
#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata
neville park
Stefan F. Wirth