On Jun 14, 5:24*pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
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.


ok agreed;
how come no matter what innocent question get's asked, one always ends
up in a heated argument on usenet. Arachnids are a mite unimportant
for such squabbles. Sorry about the dire pun; you can tick me off.

Des