Download high resolution image here.
This very small mite appears to be a Mesostigmata nymph. Any help in identifying it more specifically is appreciated. One distinguishing feature that may help is the long narrow scales which cover the setae (ie. "hairy hairs"). These are best seen in the high-resolution
dorsal crop.
I collected this mite off Three Gun Spring Trl. 194 at 6000 ft elevation,
Tijeras 7.5’ quadrangle in the
Sandia Mountains, Bernalillo Co, NM from a Berlese funnel loaded with leafy detritus in an arroyo.
This specimen was treated with HMDS
(1).
This image is from a
CombineZP processed stack of 437 images with a 0.9 micron step taken with a Nikon BD Plan Apo 40X 0.8 NA 210 mm tube microscope objective + adapter/extension tube + Nikon D300 camera.