MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I was scanning through a slide looking for water bears, and seeing nothing but endless clopada, nematodes, rotifers, and tiny swarming bacteria, when I came upon this:



Okay, that looks to me like a BUG. Not a micro-organism such as I've been seeing, but an actual bug. It has bug legs, six of them, like a bug. I've seen bugs before, and that's one of them! It really seems quite out of context to me. It's about the size of a juvenile tardigrade. First time I've seen this, and okay, I'm still pretty new to this, but a bug? What sort of bug might it be at that size? Some kind of mite?

Ho Lilly,
This looks like a mite to me, i can count seven legs in yourm photo ( mites have eight legs).
What do you mean by "bug"?; to an entomologist a bug is an insect with piercing sucking mouthparts, there many insects (and other invertebrates which are not bugs).
Peter.

Sometime when you see those smaller sickle shaped things you might want to bump up to a higher power objective and take a closer look at them.
CE

Peter wrote:Ho Lilly,
This looks like a mite to me, i can count seven legs in yourm photo ( mites have eight legs).
What do you mean by "bug"?; to an entomologist a bug is an insect with piercing sucking mouthparts, there many insects (and other invertebrates which are not bugs).
Peter.

A bug is a bug. I'm not an entomologist, I grew up in rural Michigan and I call em like I see em. That's a bug. Also, no bug has seven legs. Nothing has seven legs. It either has six or eight, with one not showing. Those are bug legs, ergo it's a bug. I cannot speak to it's mouth parts as they are not shown, but I don't need to. It's obvious what it is.

I count 8 legs in your photo. Based on my past observations it is a water mite. they are quite common. I have a video of one I made in the past as well. Although they come in various sizes.

A true Bug is in the order Hemiptera although most people call all insects "bugs".

einman wrote:I count 8 legs in your photo. Based on my past observations it is a water mite. they are quite common. I have a video of one I made in the past as well. Although they come in various sizes.

A true Bug is in the order Hemiptera although most people call all insects "bugs".

Thank you sir. Being of common stock and of rural provincial extraction I too call all insects bugs. I had no idea there was anything considered a "true bug." To me a bug is just a bug, and that's a quite generic term, but I suppose I've learned a new thing here, and that's what I'm out to do. Hermeptera eh? Okay then, thank you. Water mite. That makes sense. I just never expected to find it among what I'd been seeing all along in this.

yes technically a water mite in not an insect. I will say you are like someone that has just discovered religion!! Fun isn't it? There are several old books you can purchase that can aid in your identifying these creatures.

Rather than take the time to list them I will show you some pics of a few:

einman wrote:yes technically a water mite in not an insect. I will say you are like someone that has just discovered religion!! Fun isn't it? There are several old books you can purchase that can aid in your identifying these creatures.

Well yes einman, it is fun, and I'm pretty much hooked. I spend so much time at my microscope now I don't get anything done. I had to force myself to go pay my utility bill today. Laundry has been sitting in the drier for two days while I scan slides. Now I'm thinking to buy a second microscope to get around the limitations of this one, and a Windows box so I can use ToupView on a USB 3.0 port instead of the horrible ToupLite. Petri dishes are multiplying, slides are stacking up to be cleaned, while I try to find a cheap way to do dark field and visit more ponds to get samples from.

Okay, a water mite is not an insect, I get that, it has 8 legs so technically it's an arachnid. But to me an arachnid is still a BUG. I'm far more inclined to differentiate between the micro-organisms I see on my slides.

Thanks for the view of your book shelves. I'll check into them... The Demon Under the Microscope sounds quite interesting...

And thus the addiction begins......

einman wrote:And thus the addiction begins......

Addiction is such a hard word, I prefer to call it an interest.

Lilly Begonia wrote:

einman wrote:And thus the addiction begins......

Addiction is such a hard word, I prefer to call it an interest.

Sort of like, "a bug by any other name........" ?

jimur wrote:

Lilly Begonia wrote:

einman wrote:And thus the addiction begins......

Addiction is such a hard word, I prefer to call it an interest.

Sort of like, "a bug by any other name........" ?

I see what you did there.

It certainly has eight legs, not seven. So it is not an insect.
It is not a bug either. A BUG is something that infests computer software, especially when fresh...

Agree on the bug definition. A bug is anything small with moving legs or wings, hence highly likely to attack you. All you want to do is to smack it with a shoe. That's a bug.

Here is a water mite I shot and the second one shows the mouth parts. Kind of creepy bugs these mites.


Water Mite - Full Body by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr


Water Mite - Body by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr

hkv - Very impressive, thanks for posting!

Very Nice shot. I simply must start stacking..

wow, hkv - great shot - very inspiring.

and thanks Einman for the book photos.
great collection of reference materials - very helpful.

and thanks Begonia Lily for all the recent posts and inspiration!

hkv wrote:Agree on the bug definition. A bug is anything small with moving legs or wings, hence highly likely to attack you. All you want to do is to smack it with a shoe. That's a bug

Well YEAH!!!

Thank you for that.

Nice