Mastodawn

Angela Chuang Aug 9, 2023

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

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Colin Purrington Aug 9, 2023

@nev I recall seeing a documentary several decades ago that had footage of the mites pouring out of hummingbird nostrils. Or it could have been a lecture when I was a grad student, perhaps. I searched but couldn't find anything on YouTube but here are some very good pics. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4758444/Amazing-images-reveal-hummingbirds-covered-MITES.html

Amazing images reveal hummingbirds are covered in MITES

The tiny flower mites use birds and beetles to hitchike from one plant to another, running down the bird's beak to drink nectar when it lands.

Daily Mail