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Mites: Family Erythraeidae; Tortoise beetle: Family Chrysomeliade, tribe Cassidini
I've seen a lot of mites parasitising other arthropods, but never in such a dramatic level! It was almost impossible to identify the beetle under them!
Spotted on Nov 15, 2014
Submitted on Nov 16, 2014
5 Comments
Impressionante!!!!!
Thank you for the ID, theridula, and for the nice comment, Juan.
Wow!, this is amazing. I guess this beetle have to feel very weak. Nice example for your Parasited Arthropods mission
Oh wow! I've never seen anything like that before. Nice find! Although I can't offer a better identification without examining the specimen, I can tell you they are the larvae of a family of mites related to true velvet mites (Trombidiidae) called Erythraeidae. Wonderful find!
Poor thing!