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Red Velvet Mite of some variety

Trombidiidae ???

Description:

Some type of Red Velvet Mite, Family Trombidiidae. Saw it crawling around in a mountainside grassland. ID thus far thanks to user valgaavmiko.

Notes:

12:29pm CST

1 Species ID Suggestions

valgaavmiko
valgaavmiko 11 years ago
Red Velvet Mite
Family Trombidiidae Trombidiidae


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3 Comments

valgaavmiko
valgaavmiko 11 years ago

Hi tracy! Unfortunately with a lot of mite species, colors and patterns can be identical and sometimes you need to take a closer look at the anatomy in order to identify down to species level. I checked and you have at least 7 Trombidiids and there isn't any key that I can find for Chinese mites. Hopefully this is a species that is very distinct to the area and someone will recognize it.

TracyB
TracyB 11 years ago

Thanks, valgaavmiko! Yes, the three identifying factors I can contribute are the location (already noted), the pattern of smokey-black pattern on its back, and the fact that, to my naked eye as I stared at it from a bird's-eye view and it crawled around, its back had the appearance of being flat like a piece of cardboard on top of those legs, not at all bulbous like some of its relative species'. I've also added one more picture to give a clearer view of the relative size and placement of its head.

valgaavmiko
valgaavmiko 11 years ago

I'm not sure how many species you have in that area so I'm leaving at family for now. I doubt you could get down to species level with this picture unless you only have one species.

TracyB
Spotted by
TracyB

青海, Paracel Islands

Spotted on Jun 2, 2013
Submitted on Nov 11, 2013

Spotted for Mission

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