Velvet mites

At the moment there are many of these tiny red so-called velvet mites (probably Trombidium holosericeum) crawling around hunting on open soil and compost in the garden. I knew almost nothing about them, but just discovered that the larvae attach themselves to spiders, harvestmen and insects as in this picture…I’d seen this before in the garden but hadn’t realised before! See https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Phalangium_opilio_bl.JPG/1024px-Phalangium_opilio_bl.JPG

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *