Toe-Biter with Mites

bugman

May 10th, 2007 at 12:00 am

Categories

Mites

Help ID of Bug
Hi- Please help me identify this bug! It’s HUGE! It was 3 inches long when a ruler was placed next to him. I pulled him out of my pool filter- he’s still alive, and really creeped me out! He has some red stuff growing on him. Thanks!
Maria Juliano in New York

Hi Maria,
This is a Giant Water Bug also known as a Toe-Biter. The red growth are probably immature Mites. Here is a reader’s response the last time we got a photo of a Toe-Biter with Mites:

Mites on the toe-biter?
Hi Daniel and Lisa Anne,
About the email on the Toe Biter from Tom on (01/27/2007) who talks about having 12 red mites on his Toe Biter? I remember seeing mites on aquatic insects, looking suspicious, and so I looked it up, and it turns out that *all* of the more than 5,000 known species of aquatic mites (Hydracarina) are partly parasitic. When they are larvae, aquatic mites are parasitic on aquatic insects, but as adults the mites become free-swimming and predatory. Winged aquatic insects, such as the toe biters, fly around of course, and that way the mites are spread from one body of water to another. You can read a lot more interesting stuff about them at:
http://www.tolweb.org/Parasitengona
And at :
http://www.tolweb.org/Hydracarina
Best to you as always,
Susan J. Hewitt

Not Locust Mites but Larval Water Mites on Dragonfly (August 7, 2004)
Toe Biter with Mites (January 27, 2007)
Toe-Biter (October 20, 2005)
Locust with Mites from Australia (January 3, 2009)
Aquatic Mites on Water Scorpion (July 3, 2009)

Comments 1

bmoc wrote:
Parasitic mites on aquatic Hemiptera are primarily in the genus Hydrachna (family Hydrachnidae). They’re unusual in remaining on the insect host while they pass their quiescent protonymphal stage. The active, predatory deutonymph emerges from the old skin, which is left on the insect. – Barry
Posted 04 Dec 2008 at 5:31 pm ¶