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Photo#233487
Black Mite or Tick - Procaeculus

Black Mite or Tick - Procaeculus
Huddart Park, San Mateo County, California, USA
October 9, 2008
Size: 1 mm
Photomicrograph of dorsal surface of small acarid (?) collected by sweeping a tan-oak sapling. I know nothing about this group of bugs - any general ID tips or references for beginners would be appreciated. I'm not even sure if this specimen is a small tick or mite! :)

This is now specimen CASENT 9096982.

Images of this individual: tag all
Black Mite or Tick - Procaeculus Black Mite or Tick - Procaeculus Black Mite or Tick - Procaeculus Black Mite or Tick - Procaeculus

Moved
Moved from Rake-Legged Mites.

Det. Andrés Porta via email communication, January 2023.

Added -
two new photomicrographs, slightly better in quality, after 12 years in ethanol. Can't see it here, but the two pale tarsal claws on legs 1 are essentially identical, so likely genus Caeculus or Procaeculus according to the key in Taylor 2017?

Moved
Moved from Mites and Ticks.

caeculid?
I know next to nothing about this group of bugs, so do not take this as any sort of ID. I have encountered similar beasts here in Wisconsin, during my research on the fauna found in ant nests under rocks on bluff prairies.

I think this may be a predatory soil mite (Caeculidae). See this and this.

Nice find!

 
Caeculidae
Nice ID. This is a caeculid. One can just make out the eight dorsal shields organized in a rather characteristic fashion. The laterally spinose forelegs are also characteristic. In addition, the general body shape, size, heavily sclerotization and several other things yield a pretty confident ID. This family is in its own superfamily (Caeculoidea), and by the mite taxonomic scheme used in bugguide, the breakdown is as follows: Acari, Acariformes, Actinedida, Anystina, Caeculoidea, Caeculidae.

 
Thanks!!
Thanks to both of you for the ID and comments! I will make the appropriate guide pages and try to get a slightly clearer photomicrograph of this mite, within the limits of my scope/camera setup.

 
Thanks for the comment!
Thanks, Jeff. Would these mites be found occasionally off the ground in woody vegetation, then, as in this case? I'm hoping to get a copy of the soon-to-be-published Manual of Acarology and start trying to understand these bugs - one of my winter projects...

 
???
I could not find much info about their biology on the web. I would appreciate any info you would be willing to share after you obtain the Manual.

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