Velvet mites

[Hisss]

Yesterday when i was walking the dogs in the woods, i found what im pretty sure is a velvet mite, are these native to england? because ive never seen them around, only at reptile shows. If its not a velvet mite any ideas what other bright red thing it could be? I will try and get some pictures up this afternoon.

[spider_duck]

we get the teeny tiny ones especially in summer-you can sometimes see walls and pavements absolutely covered in them, but as far as Im aware the larger species arent native

[Hisss]

This one is quite small, it walked across the path in front of me and really stuck out.

[PSYCHOSIS]

If your talking a-bought the little red mites , that are every ware then iv seen them aroud for years and years ,

[GRB]

I just caught some of these yesterday!

Yes, they are native to the UK. The ones we get here are at most 4mm in size.

As far as I can tell, they are usually Allothombrium sp. (other so called velvet mites look rather different). These are generalist predators of soil arthropods and have a parasitic nymphal stage which parasitises Coleopterans and Lepidopteran adults.

Other types are parasites on birds and mammals, and a whole array of animals. I've got about a dozen in a tub which I'll let go soon (I wanted to observe/photograph them since I've never found them before outside of photographs).

[Hisss]

Its 4mm in length, had never seen anything that big before. I just took it home to photograph incase it was something uncommon

[GRB]

Originally Posted by PSYCHOSIS

If your talking ABOUT the little red mites , that are everywhere then iv seen them aroud for years and years ,

There's many different types - the very small, very fast mites are different. My mite taxonomy is not great however so I'm currently unsure as to what family they are from (I've heard it before I just can't remember).

*Sorry for the spelling policing!*

[PSYCHOSIS]

I dont no nothing a-bought mites ether , its ok .

[Hedgewitch]

^Double negative, good thing you know about mites

I've seen the big ones before, and they're different to the tiny red ones, run over walls etc. and kids squash them.

[Slinkies mum]

the Giant red velvet mite is native to India I think. Had some once but they died. They were about 1cm round.