On Jun 14, 12:48*pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
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.

Those really, really, tiny, vivid red guys are not true spiders. I
presume they are parasitic on something but what exactly, I have no
idea. ALL true spiders have a "head" (cepahothorax; head and thorax
fused) and an abdomen and these are always distinct.


Also, not all spiders show a clear thorax/abdomen distinction and
spider relatives like harvestmen don't show any.

Harvestmen are not spiders (strictly speaking; informally they get
called harvest spiders but that is loose usage). They are certainly
arachnids, as are mites and scorpions and spiders.

*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.