#MITES

[vincentbriggs]

Another thing that had been on The Pile for some time was this velvet mite brooch, which I got out and finished today! I'm not entirely happy with it - the body is much too flat and the overall size is a bit bigger than I'd intended. But maybe someday I'll make another one that's smaller, with way more batting.

This red poly velvet had been in my stash for as long as I can remember and I don't know where it came from, but I'm glad I kept it even though I knew I wasn't likely to use it on actual clothing items. The legs are made from wire covered with little fabric tubes, and the body is 2 layers of buckram with some cotton batting, then another bit of covered buckram for the belly. I tried machine sewing the leg tubes at first, but it was a huge wonky mess, so they're all hand sewn.

I think it's much too big for a waistcoat, but could perhaps do on a jacket.

(For anyone who hasn't seen velvet mites, they're just as fuzzy and bright red as this, but plumper and more strawberry shaped. They're very very tiny and harmless. The ones I've seen in parks and on riverbanks are usually about 2mm long.)

[apsciencebylyn]

*hooded cultists chanting* Rake-legged mite! Rake-legged mite! Rake-legged mite!

Oh and a tiny bristle millipede, all with sand grains for scale. Finally got to find bugs this week. 🤎

[sandpaperoctopi]

yay mite photo shoot! sorry for fingernail

[myxomycota]

a mite (Daemaeidae sp.) feeding on Stemonitopsis typhina by Barry Webb

[cnestus]

was trying to ID a recently collected bee specimen but the phoretic mites on it were still alive and very distracting

[razehider]

a resting bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), while cute, is not an especially remarkable sight. but her calm demeanor might allow us to find something much sneakier

surprise, it's Parasitellus! this juvenile mite is harmless to the bee herself, but will hitch a ride back to her nest and feed on pollen there as it matures. if the colony has a pest problem though, such as other, more disruptive mites, this one will repay the favor to the bumblebees by preying on them. all in all, not the worst thing to find clinging to your thorax

(February 14th, 2025)

[antiqueanimals]

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: vol. 2 - Insects. Written by Dr. Bernhard Grzimek. 1984.

Internet Archive

1.) Euglena viridis

2.) Difflugia pyriformis

3.) Arcella vulgaris

4.) Nothrus silvestris

5.) Neobisium simoni

6.) Campodea staphylinus

7.) Onychiurus sp.

8.) Orchesella cincta

[hellsitegenetics]

hello i have a request about one of my treasured old posts. what sort of creature is HOGMAIL DOT CLOM ? thank you for your blasts

String identified: ta a cg ctc

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ct t ct ac , t t atc, tat ct, cat attac a tat t ct’ a t a a. ca t t ct. a a t t . “”

t t ca a. “a t’ ta, t ta?” t t ta.c t a ta. t a ta. t “TGA.C”

t t a ta g a t. cc t t t a t g a t acac.

GA.C

a t c t t t tt tat ’t t t agg gt t a t. t’ t ta. t’ t a. t a tg gcat t a t at attt, tc a. a t gt, t a t-t c t a . a c t, ’ ta t ( a ), t t ’t at t t , , ’ t ca t a tg a a

’ g a ’ t g t GA.C

Closest match: Medioppia subpectinata Common name: Mite

(image source)

[cpericardium]

Sick and tired of people misidentifying things as varroa mites!!

Bumblebee mites (Parasitellus): mostly harmless hitchhikers on bumblebees, may feed on other mites, moulds and detritus that can harm the brood, too many can weigh the bumblebee down and prevent it from flying so you can gently brush some of them off

Varroa mite: relatively big ectoparasite that mostly infests honeybees, feeds on honeybee fat body tissue, directly injects viruses into them, devastates colonies

This is pollen:

If you euthanise the bee for this I'll kill you

[crevicedwelling]

bugs on bugs

Porcellionides pruinosus “Oreo Crumble” with a predatory mite on its back.

these mites are present in all of my isopod tubs, where they currently feed on springtails but act as a constant barrier to unwanted soil mesofauna that might become pests, such as fungus gnats or grain mites. I’m not sure how I got them (they just showed up one day) but they might be the second-most numerous animal in my collection, after the small white springtail species that they are constantly hunting.

[autistrix]

I mourn the species of parasitic louse only found on california condors, which is now extinct.

In order to give the condors the best chance at living, conservationists medicated the condors, killing their parasites, and since they had collected every known condor still in existence, the species is probably gone. Isn't that so sad? To save one, the other had to be destroyed, forever. Are their lives less worthy, just because they are small and unpleasant?

They debated, in fact, whether to collect the lice and maybe reintroduce them someday in the future when the condor population would one day stabilize, but they didn't. I won't insist they should have done differently, I understand why it was done. With only twenty-two birds left on earth, how could they justify potentially jeopardizing their long-term survival over mere lice? But.. how could they not justify it? Alas, I wasn't there to argue.

I mourn those lice, all the same

[vincentbriggs]

I made another velvet mite, and this time I filmed it! Partly because a few people expressed interest in making one, but mostly because 3 of my last 4 videos have been over an hour long and I really wanted to edit something short. It's just under 20 minutes.

[apsciencebylyn]

This is what we get when Nature, like a Disney IP, needs to sell toys

(aquatic mite)

[rattyexplores]

Velvet Mites on Old Spider Eggs

Unidentified, superfamily Trombidioidea

24/03/23 - NSW, Dapto

[myxomycota]

mites on Physarum psittacinum

by Barry Webb

[ratcandy]

bug courtship is always so dumb and that's why it's my favorite thing to learn about. the adult female water mite spends like 90% of her time in a hunting pose so there's no safe way for the male to get near her without getting eaten. so what he does is sneak some sperm under her and then wave his leggies around to make her think he's prey so she lunges and falls on top of the sperm, thus inseminating herself. this behavior from the male is called "trembling."

here's a diagram of it. from (Heather) Proctor 1990. what a world right