Nick Mark, MD @nick

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**neville park** @nev@flipping.rocks · Apr 22

I almost forgot it was #MiteMonday! Inspired by @zorbama's shot of a running crab spider, clover mite, and midge all together (https://veganism.social/@zorbama/114373000260983349), here's a running crab spider (_Philodromus_) I found feeding on a clover mite (_Bryobia_). I don't actually often find many arthropods feeding on the adults, though I've seen predatory _Anystis_ mites eating the eggs.

A small, flat, crablike grey-brown spider perched on a large rock with something light red and leggy in its jaws.

A closer shot from a better angle shows the dark blueish body and thin light red legs and mouthparts of a clover mite.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #mites

**AllQuakes - EMSC** @emsc@masto.ai · Apr 15

Apr 15

AllQuakes - EMSC @emsc@masto.ai

#Earthquake (#sismo) M4.0 strikes 70 km S of #Acarí (#Peru) 14 min ago. More info: https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1795103

**Plazi Species** @plazi_species@mastodon.green · Apr 4

Apr 4

Plazi Species @plazi_species@mastodon.green

#NewSpecies!
New water mite from #china just swam in:

Atractides cardiacus

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0396422E-FFE2-FF89-FE29-871A827AF68C
Publication: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2025.976.2775
#ejtaxonomy #AtractidesCardiacus

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #arachnology #arachnids #acarology #acari #mites #watermite

**neville park** @nev@flipping.rocks · Apr 1

Apr 1

neville park @nev@flipping.rocks

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).

A teardrop-shaped red-brown mite with a small translucent white thing in its mouthparts. It could be mistaken for an ant pupa but I promise it's a springtail.

The same mite and its prey are dwarfed by a small slug also on the underside of the log.

Another white springtail, this one identifiable as a poduromorph, comes face-to-face with a light brown mesostig only a little longer than itself. The mite's front pair of legs are long and thin, used a bit like antennae.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids

**AllQuakes - EMSC** @emsc@masto.ai · Mar 22

Mar 22

AllQuakes - EMSC @emsc@masto.ai

#Earthquake (#sismo) M3.6 strikes 69 km S of #Acarí (#Peru) 4 min ago. More info: https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1785436

**neville park** @nev@flipping.rocks · Mar 18

Mar 18

neville park @nev@flipping.rocks

During this recent spate of warmish weather I've been checking my go-to sumo mite (_Allothrombium_) trees. It's still too early for a dense population, but there are definitely a few out and about!

Here's an earlier video I took of sumo mites wrestling: https://youtu.be/qZ0Ml6VXujg

A large, fuzzy oblong red mite on the rough and flaky roots of a birch tree.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids

**AllQuakes - EMSC** @emsc@masto.ai · Mar 18

Mar 18

AllQuakes - EMSC @emsc@masto.ai

#Earthquake (#sismo) M3.9 strikes 39 km S of #Acarí (#Peru) 12 min ago. More info: https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1783937

**neville park** @nev@flipping.rocks · Mar 11 *

Mar 11 *

neville park @nev@flipping.rocks

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

#DailyMiteVid #Mitestodon #arachnids

**neville park** @nev@flipping.rocks · Mar 10

Mar 10

neville park @nev@flipping.rocks

The first #MiteMonday in a while! The wet dead leaves are a bountiful source of predatory mesostigmatid mites.

A teardrop-shaped reddish-brown mite on a golden-brown leaf. Its long thin front legs are reaching out in front of it.

A blurry photo of a different mite, this one with a gap between the red-brown plates covering the top and bottom of its body, leaving a crescent of white cuticle visible. It's booking it across the surface of a dead log.

Yet another mesostig at the edge of a dead leaf.

#Mitestodon #arachnids #mites

**AllQuakes - EMSC** @emsc@masto.ai · Mar 9

Mar 9

AllQuakes - EMSC @emsc@masto.ai

#Earthquake (#sismo) M3.6 strikes 71 km S of #Acarí (#Peru) 12 min ago. More info: https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1780583

**Frank Ashwood** @frankashwood@flipping.rocks · Mar 4

Mar 4

Frank Ashwood @frankashwood@flipping.rocks

Now Bug of the Year is over, normal service can resume!

Here's an incredibly feathery velvet mite (Chyzeriidae) from New Zealand. These active predators wander the forest floor, looking for springtails to ambush and drink dry using their piercing mouthparts! Beautiful but deadly.

A photograph of a large red mite, with a soft body covered in long feathery digitation on its back.

#Invertebrate #Macrophotography #Entomology

**AllQuakes - EMSC** @emsc@masto.ai · Feb 17

Feb 17

AllQuakes - EMSC @emsc@masto.ai

#Earthquake (#sismo) M5.2 strikes 59 km S of #Acarí (#Peru) 7 min ago. More info: https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1772793

**AllQuakes - EMSC** @emsc@masto.ai · Feb 13

Feb 13

AllQuakes - EMSC @emsc@masto.ai

#Earthquake (#sismo) M4.6 strikes 44 km SE of #Acarí (#Peru) 41 min ago. More info: https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1771229

**Guerric Haché** @GuerricHache@pixelfed.social · Feb 12

Feb 12

Guerric Haché @GuerricHache@pixelfed.social

A spiny little mite found in Say Nuth Khaw Yum Provincial Park! I don't know much at all about mites, so any mite experts are welcome to chime in on who this is.

#mite #acari #arthropod #invertebrates #macro #macrophotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #vancouver #britishcolumbia #canada #saynuthkhawyum

An extreme close-up view of a tiny mite. Its round body is pale orange, and its long legs are almost white and covered in thin spines. It is walking downward on a piece of wood.

#saynuthkhawyum

**AllQuakes - EMSC** @emsc@masto.ai · Feb 9

Feb 9

AllQuakes - EMSC @emsc@masto.ai

#Earthquake (#sismo) M4.6 strikes 115 km SE of #Acarí (#Peru) 21 min ago. More info: https://m.emsc.eu/?id=1768755

**neville park** @nev@flipping.rocks · Feb 4

Feb 4

neville park @nev@flipping.rocks

#MiteMonday: wintertime rock flipping turned up some penthaleids and those iridescent purple springtails, not quite sure what they are. They were about the same size (see third photo).

A little dark blue mite with bright red legs, mouthparts, and dorsal anus, walking across a rock stained orange with rust.

A slender springtail covered with iridescent blue-purple scales, on the same rock.

Mite and springtail crossing paths. The photo is mostly out of focus, but you can see they are roughly the same size.

#DailyMitePic #Mitestodon #arachnids

**neville park** @nev@flipping.rocks · Dec 30, 2024

Dec 30, 2024

neville park @nev@flipping.rocks

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

A small teardrop-shaped red-brown mite with thick, claw-like second legs and long thin antenna-like first legs crosses a velvety mat of fungus towards a wet dead leaf.

A similar-looking mite (you can see the differences in the legs better from this angle) on a broad, cratered and rippled mat of fungus with variegated patches of beige, yellow-brown, and dark brown, with black specks all over. There are no other visible large lifeforms.

**Frank Ashwood** @frankashwood@flipping.rocks · Dec 18, 2024

Dec 18, 2024

Frank Ashwood @frankashwood@flipping.rocks

Today I found this impressive oribatid mite in some leaf litter.

Oribatida are masters of self-protection: they've evolved protective armour flaps, defensive chemicals, and some even wear their old moults on their back like shields. But this Neotrichozetes spinulosa has said 'yeah nah' to all that and instead opted to become a sentient pincushion!