#predatory mite

A widespread genus of large mites, with over 200 species.

Like most Erythraeidae, the larvae are parasitic on larger arthropods, and the adults predatory. However, for a long time 'Leptus autumnalis' AKA  harvest bug, or mower's mite, had a deserved reputation of badly biting anybody that worked in the fields at that time of year. But it wasn't a Leptus - instead the culprit proved to be the six-legged larvae of a Trombidium species.

Spotted running around at high speed in the undergrowth at the Dryandra Woodlands, out in the WA Wheatbelt.

direct treatment

dawn dish soap bath

vegetable oil

enclosure treatment

I've gotten some good shots with my phone over the last year. This is not one of them. On the other hand, the subject is a mite, and even one as large as this is still a very small subject.

I'd been turning over some damp firewood at a rural site I was waiting to spray, and turned up a half-dozen of these large yellow mites with very long forelegs, slowly clambering around the fungal filaments. Macromite helpfully pointed me towards the Podocinid family, and the genus Podocinum. In a post about springtail-hunting mites, they say:

I’ve watched Podocinum fishing for springtails. They are slow-moving, stately mites, but as they wander the front legs dangle in front exploring their world. When a springtail is encountered by the light touch of the long distal setae, the mite pauses, and then quickly scoops their prey in towards their chelicerae: another springtail become mite fodder.

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EDIT, 2025: Almost certainly NOT a Podocinid - Linopodes is much more often seen, even if solitary and never in large numbers. Here’s a somewhat better photo from the Goodale Sanctuary