http://www.ent.orst.edu/bugbook/taxo...thrombium.html

Red Velvet Mites?

Dave

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article
,
Des Higgins writes:
|
| | not true spiders as such but arachnids (which include spiders) ;
they
| | are mites; not red spider mites as you point out; in fact I have
no
| | idea which kind apart from being "the tiny fast bright red mites
that
| | you see running around on concrete"; they look harmless but that
is
| | based on no particular information.
|
| Actually, the common, bright red, spider-like things that run around
| ARE true spiders! =A0They are not mites, as you can see with a good
| magnifying glass.
|
| How do we prove this? I bet 50euro cents that they are not true
| spiders (that is worth about 400quid these days). I promise to get
| Roy Omond to hand deliver this (he lives in Great Chesterford) if you
| are correct.
|
| Just to check, we are talking about the bright scarlet things that
| move very quickly and that are very tiny?

Yes.

| They are mites who do indded have 8 legs like spiders but have just
| one blob for a body; they do not have a distinct abdomen and head
| +thorax like spiders.

Don't bet on it. As far as I know, there are no mites that are fast
moving - indeed, I think that almost all mites are parasitic. Such
creatures almost always have very short legs and move slowly; red
spider mites certainly do.

Also, not all spiders show a clear thorax/abdomen distinction and
spider relatives like harvestmen don't show any. If they look like
mites, but with VERY long legs, harvestmen are a likely guess, and
they are more spiders than mites. Some harvestment have spider-
length legs.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.