photog.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A place for your photos and banter. Photog first is our motto Please refer to the site rules before posting.

Administered by:

Server stats:

244
active users

#MiteBehaviour

0 posts0 participants0 posts today

#DailyMiteVid: whirligig mites (family Anystidae) are happy to eat each other, as you can see from this clip filmed today. I noticed that the mite being eaten seemed to still be alive and moving its limbs; it was only on re-watching the video that I realized it seemed to be cleaning one of its legs!

CW: slightly shaky video moving in & out of focus; mite being altogether too chill about being devoured alive by its fellow

The sidewalk mites (_Balaustium_) that swarm over the ground this time of year primarily eat pollen, but they will also scavenge dead bugs (I do not think they are actually predatory). This horde has found an ant pupa, I think?

I am fascinated by this behaviour and try to catch it at least once every summer.

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

I can't even wait for #MiteMonday, this is too exciting, I have to share it now!!!

In Walter & Proctor's _Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour: Life at a Microscale_, there's this great image of mites in the family Acaridae mating, with the male facing backwards and his aedeagus (dick) inserted into the female's dorsal copulatory opening (bussy [back pussy]), so he is carried along on her back, a bit like a wheelbarrow race, but backwards.

Anyway this evening I was idly taking macro of the mites in the fruit fly culture when I SAW IT. It's easier to make out with video.

marked nsfw for graphic photos and videos of mite sex, you were warned

#Mitestodon #DailyMiteVid #arachnids #mites #MiteBehaviour#Acari #Acariformes #Acaridae

Continued thread

#Arachtober 23: from June, a long-legged velvet mite (family Erythraeidae) climbs into a silk retreat over the exuvia (molted exoskeleton) of the jumping spider (family Salticidae) that previously occupied it. This is not the first time I have seen mites using old spider retreats for shelter!

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #MiteBehaviour #DailySpiderPic #SpidersOfMastodon #JumpingSpiders #spiders#Acari #Acariformes #Erythraeidae #Araneae #Salticidae

🎶 It's just another mite, mite Monday… 🎶

The two little bumps on this _Balaustium_ sidewalk mite's head are organs called urnulae. For a very long time we didn't know what they were for. It was only in the past few decades that scientists learned the urnulae secreted chemicals that could deter insect attacks and alert fellow mites to danger: doi.org/10.1080/01647950608684 :ClosedAccess: / sci-hub.se/10.1080/01647950608 :scihub:

#MiteMonday #DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids #mites #MiteBehaviour#Acari #Erythraeidae

The cherry trees are blooming in Trinity-Bellwoods! 🌸

…But I didn't dress up or bring a selfie stick or anything so instead I just rolled over some logs and took pictures of mites. I saw mesostigs trying to carry off springtails, plus one with some small prey (quite possibly another mite) in its mouthparts.

Continued thread

#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)

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)

Taken solstice day down by the lake. I watched these sidewalk mites chasing each other away from a dead midge, until only one was left still feeding—at which point it and the midge were blown away in the breeze.

As I've previously mentioned, try putting "Yakety Sax" on in the background for the full comedic effect.

YouTube version (HD, with sound, not that it makes a huge difference): youtu.be/00a92QNqY4g

#MiteMonday: It's crowded in the garden during Peak Anystid! Yesterday I saw a whirligig mite (family Anystidae) eating a small plant bug (family Miridae) when a second mite came along and had a bite. The first mite stopped feeding, but did keep one foot on the bug, as if to call dibs. It wasn't long before a third mite happened upon the kill and also helped itself to the bug.