In article ,
Des Higgins writes:
|
| 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.

Some are distinct only to an expert, or not at all to the naked eye.
In any case, I have had true spiders like that run around in my garden
(with 6 diopters of short sight and a magnifying glass, I can see quite
a lot of detail).

But it is quite possible that the OP saw velvet mites - they aren't
rare and I had forgotten about them - what I am quite sure of is that
they weren't red spite mite.

| 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.

Actually, my memory was wrong, and I take it back. They are no more
closely related to spiders than scorpions are. Also, most of them
have VERY long legs.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.