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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Chelicerates (Chelicerata) » Arachnids (Arachnida) » Mites and Ticks (Acari) » Parasitiformes » Mesostigs (Mesostigmata) » Parasitina » Parasitoidea » Parasitidae » images ID'd by D.E. Walter as Parasitidae
Photo#47705
Tiny Insect (Mite?) inside Compost Bin Lid
Copyright © 2006 Peter Hollinger

Tiny Insect (Mite?) inside Compost Bin Lid
Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
April 11, 2006
Size: ~1mm
There were several of these almost invisible bugs running around on the underside of the compost bin lid, along with long-necked seed bugs and cobweb spiders. They even ran under the spiders' legs. Can't see much in the photos, but they at least seem to have six legs and a pair of antennae, so I guess they're insects. I'm really curious what they might be.

Images of this individual: tag all
Tiny Insect (Mite?) inside Compost Bin Lid Tiny Insect (Mite?) with Spider Tiny Insect (Mite?) under Lid #2 Tiny Insect (Mite?) under Lid #2b
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Contributed by Peter Hollinger on 12 April, 2006 - 8:42pm
Last updated 10 May, 2011 - 3:17pm

Parasitidae, deutonymph --det. D.E. Walter
Moved from Mesostigmata.
… v belov, 10 May, 2011 - 3:17pm login or register to post comments

probably Mesostigmata
Suggested Mesostigmata

Dr. Gilberto Jose de Moraes
USP ESALQ Zoologia
Caixa Postal 09
13418-900 Piracicaba SP
Brazil
… Jim McClarin, 7 February, 2007 - 7:56pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Mites and Ticks.
… Jim McClarin, 7 February, 2007 - 7:43pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Mites.
… Jim McClarin, 30 December, 2006 - 10:39am login or register to post comments

mite
This is probably a mite. Not an insect, but an arachnid. What appears to be the antennae are probably the front pair of legs. You can compare to other mite images in the Guide. This one looks especially similar to yours:
… Joe Schuller, 13 April, 2006 - 8:09am login or register to post comments

 
I also think its a mite it lo
I also think its a mite it looks like ones i've seen in our compost if you want to try and get rid of them you can get lady bugs and other larger insects and bugs that will eat them and keep them from coming back. My wife and I are in the garden all summer so for mothers day i got her a whole new set of gardening tools that im sure she will love.
… jasonr, 7 May, 2008 - 12:56pm login or register to post comments

 
Mite makes sense
Thanks, Joe -- mite sounds right. I couldn't see any detail by eye (only noticed them because I was shooting the spider). Not much more detail by camera, but in the last two images the front legs looked different from the other three pairs. I'm pretty sure they show a different individual but the same species. Would you agree ('same species')? I guess I shouldn't have linked them all together.
… Peter Hollinger, 13 April, 2006 - 9:05am login or register to post comments

 
hard to say from these photos
The overall color and body shape looks the same to me, so I think there's a good chance these photos are of the same species (if not the same individual), but it's hard to say for sure. Mites are hard to photograph - at least with my equipment I haven't had much luck.
… Joe Schuller, 13 April, 2006 - 12:24pm login or register to post comments

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