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
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
The first #MiteMonday in a while! The wet dead leaves are a bountiful source of predatory mesostigmatid mites.
#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata
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???
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
neville park