Red Velvet Mite

TCimages · Mar 14, 2008

Spring is coming. Had a chance to get out for a hike today and found this guy:

Sw1tchFX · Mar 14, 2008

Why is it so red? I've never seen anything like that before.

TCimages · Mar 15, 2008

My only guess would be for protection. Nature seems to use bright colors as a warning that "Im Poisonous" so they wont be eaten. However, I'm pretty sure these are not poisonous.

Sw1tchFX · Mar 15, 2008

I did some research and found that these are predatory mites, eating the eggs of grasshoppers.

Interesting!

TCimages · Mar 15, 2008

I read that as well. Amazing the things you find doing Macro work.

Sarah23 · Mar 15, 2008

EWWWW...I hate bugs like that. They make my skin crawl and I get itchy! lol!

But other then the fact that its a BUG...nice shot! very bright red little thing, isnt it!!

TCimages · Mar 15, 2008

sorry Sarah. You might want to hide from some of my posts

Trenton Romulox · Mar 15, 2008

Excellent! That red is brilliant, it really stands out nicely. Excellent detail in the shot. Only thing I'm thinking about here, maybe, just maybe, there'd be a better orientation for the shot. Maybe not. You've probably experimented with them anyways. Seriously awesome shot though! You're a macro master, TC.