A small mite I found many years ago

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Pat Thielen
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 5:02 am
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

A small mite I found many years ago

#1 Post by Pat Thielen » Tue Nov 13, 2018 8:51 pm

Hey there everyone! I'm still around, more or less! Life has been busier than usual and the usual chaos has grown a bit more chaosier, but then again -- That's life!

Anyway, there are a couple photos of a very small mite I found many years ago on one of my pitcher plants. The slide was made on 1-19-1979 when I was 15 years old. So, the quality isn't what many of you produce, but overall it isn't too bad. I wish I had access to glass cover slips back then as the slides I made are all scratched and stuff. Still, not too bad all considering. I don't remember what I did to make this slide -- All I know is it wasn't stained with anything and is mounted using Canada balsam.

What I do find interesting about this mite is that he has those rather intense looking mandibles. So, I suspect he was predatory in nature. Of course, I have no idea whatsoever what species he is. Maybe someone here might have some insight on that.

The smaller image of the mite was taken at 40x using a 15 image focus stack. The closer-up image was taken at 100x using a focus stack of 12 images. Both are simple bright field images; nothing fancy here.

As always, let me know what you think. I had been wondering for many years what happened to all the slides I made way back then. As it turned out, I found them (along with my lab equipment) stored away at my Mom's house.
Attachments
10x/0.25, 12 image focus stack, brightfield, Nikon d810, Photoshop CC
10x/0.25, 12 image focus stack, brightfield, Nikon d810, Photoshop CC
micro0016815_12_image_stack_100x.jpg (367.16 KiB) Viewed 4772 times
4x/.1, 15 image focus stack, brightfield, Nikon d810, Photoshop CC
4x/.1, 15 image focus stack, brightfield, Nikon d810, Photoshop CC
micro0016799_15_image_stack_40x_cropped.jpg (238.48 KiB) Viewed 4772 times
Pat Thielen
Motic BA310, C & A Scientific Premiere SMZ-07, Swift Eleven-Ninety, Swift FM-31, Bausch & Lomb VM349, Olympus CHA
Nikon d810

MichaelG.
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Location: North Wales

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#2 Post by MichaelG. » Tue Nov 13, 2018 9:13 pm

Pat Thielen wrote:... Anyway, there are a couple photos of a very small mite I found many years ago on one of my pitcher plants. The slide was made on 1-19-1979 when I was 15 years old. So, the quality isn't what many of you produce, but overall it isn't too bad. I wish I had access to glass cover slips back then as the slides I made are all scratched and stuff. Still, not too bad all considering. I don't remember what I did to make this slide -- All I know is it wasn't stained with anything and is mounted using Canada balsam. ...
Whatever you did was very successful, Pat ... It's good to see a specimen that's not horribly squashed!

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

einman
Posts: 1508
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:03 am

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#3 Post by einman » Tue Nov 13, 2018 9:53 pm

MichaelG. wrote:
Pat Thielen wrote:... Anyway, there are a couple photos of a very small mite I found many years ago on one of my pitcher plants. The slide was made on 1-19-1979 when I was 15 years old. So, the quality isn't what many of you produce, but overall it isn't too bad. I wish I had access to glass cover slips back then as the slides I made are all scratched and stuff. Still, not too bad all considering. I don't remember what I did to make this slide -- All I know is it wasn't stained with anything and is mounted using Canada balsam. ...
Whatever you did was very successful, Pat ... It's good to see a specimen that's not horribly squashed!

MichaelG.

LOL yes but we should give "horribly squashed" a technical term-any suggestions?

Hobbyst46
Posts: 4277
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#4 Post by Hobbyst46 » Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:16 pm

einman wrote:
MichaelG. wrote:
Pat Thielen wrote:... Anyway, there are a couple photos of a very small mite I found many years ago on one of my pitcher plants. The slide was made on 1-19-1979 when I was 15 years old. So, the quality isn't what many of you produce, but overall it isn't too bad. I wish I had access to glass cover slips back then as the slides I made are all scratched and stuff. Still, not too bad all considering. I don't remember what I did to make this slide -- All I know is it wasn't stained with anything and is mounted using Canada balsam. ...
Whatever you did was very successful, Pat ... It's good to see a specimen that's not horribly squashed!

MichaelG.

LOL yes but we should give "horribly squashed" a technical term-any suggestions?
like "Twodimensionalized?"

einman
Posts: 1508
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:03 am

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#5 Post by einman » Wed Nov 14, 2018 12:47 am

Yes..2Dimensionalized

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Pat Thielen
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Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#6 Post by Pat Thielen » Thu Nov 15, 2018 7:12 am

I'm a bit curious if there are any mite experts in these forums who might so, kinda-sorta, what type of mite this is. I did some looking but I haven't come up with any that have mandibles like that. I'm rather curious what he could have been eating on my pitcher plant. This mite was about 500 microns or so long.
Pat Thielen
Motic BA310, C & A Scientific Premiere SMZ-07, Swift Eleven-Ninety, Swift FM-31, Bausch & Lomb VM349, Olympus CHA
Nikon d810

MichaelG.
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Location: North Wales

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#7 Post by MichaelG. » Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:20 am

Not a mite expert ... just curious on your behalf ... I found this:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The ... _250008642

Then, via Wikipedia, I found this video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Sa7x1AxeU
... I suggest that you may try contacting Stefan F. Wirth

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

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Pat Thielen
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Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#8 Post by Pat Thielen » Thu Nov 15, 2018 10:50 am

MichaelG. wrote:Not a mite expert ... just curious on your behalf ... I found this:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The ... _250008642

Then, via Wikipedia, I found this video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Sa7x1AxeU
... I suggest that you may try contacting Stefan F. Wirth

MichaelG.

Thanks for the help -- I didn't come across this person at all when I did my initial Google search. I sent him a message on Facebook; I hope he sees it at some point. I still haven't found any images of mites with the particular mouthparts this one has. The ones that are known to live in the purple pitcher plant, which is what I had back then, didn't really resemble the one I found and photographed.

An interesting mystery to be sure!
Pat Thielen
Motic BA310, C & A Scientific Premiere SMZ-07, Swift Eleven-Ninety, Swift FM-31, Bausch & Lomb VM349, Olympus CHA
Nikon d810

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Pat Thielen
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 5:02 am
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

Re: A small mite I found many years ago

#9 Post by Pat Thielen » Wed Nov 21, 2018 1:50 am

This mite is a species found in the order Oribatida, also known as moss or beetle mites. Thanks to Stefan F. Wirth for the identification.

And thanks to Michael for suggesting I contact Stefan in the first place. I really appreciate how people are so willing to help and are so generous with their time.

:D
Pat Thielen
Motic BA310, C & A Scientific Premiere SMZ-07, Swift Eleven-Ninety, Swift FM-31, Bausch & Lomb VM349, Olympus CHA
Nikon d810

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