Locust with Mites from Australia

bugman

January 3rd, 2009 at 1:16 pm

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Locust infected with mites?
Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 8:48 PM
Hi guys,
This locust was very well disguised by colour and textures to fit in with the semi arid landscape and I only spotted it when it jumped out of my way. After processing the shot I noticed the little red attachments. Would they be some type of mite or some other parasite?
aussietrev
Capricornia region, Queensland

Locust with Mites

Hi Trevor,
Your Locust is in the suborder Caelifera and probably one of the Short Horned Grasshoppers in the family Acrididae. We are not certain if the Mites are parasitic, but that is quite likely. There are some mites that infest insects, but they are not parasitic. Rather, they use the insect for transportation purposes, a phenomenon known as phoresy. We are currently experiencing problems with images going live and hope to resolve this very soon.

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