is this a burying beetle?
I saw this little guy while hiking near Wilmington, VT, but before i could get close enough for a better shot, he jumped up and flew away. i didn’t even notice the mites on his back until i got home and looked at the picture. is this a burying beetle? are they still endangered? thanks,
Dan

Hi Dan,
Yes, this is a Burying Beetle or Sexton Beetle in the genus Nicrophorus, and the Phoretic Mites are just hitching a ride to a food source, often maggots that are feeding on the decaying carcass the Burying Beetle lays its eggs upon. The mites eat the maggots and leave more food for the beetle larvae. The Burying Beetle and the Phoretic Mites have a symbiotic relationship. We haven’t the time right now to give you an exact species on the Burying Beetle, but it is not the American Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus americanus, the endangered species. The American Burying Beetle is a large beetle with orange markings on the pronotum of the thorax.

Whats this bug?
I live in Brookville Ohio, my son and I was in our woods and came across a bright red little bug. I was able to get it to crawl upon a leaf and managed to get it back home so I could get my camera. I grabbed my Canon Rebel XT with a 60mm Macro Lens and took some pictures as he crawled across my patio. He looks like a spider, and is much larger than a spider mite. Can you help me identify it.
Nathan Quesinberry

Hi Nathan,
This is a Velvet Mite in the family Trombidiidae.

Dung Beetle?
I think this is a female Rainbow Scarab, Phanaues vindex. I live in Naples, FL, the extreme SW corner of Florida. I was working outside when she flew or crashed into my forehead. The shot of her belly appears to show something, fungus, other insects, parasites…I don’t know.
Bob

Hi Bob,
You are correct, sort of. This is a female Rainbow Scarab, but the Mites are not parasites. We believe they are hitching a ride (phoresy) on the Dung Beetle as it flies to a fresh pile of dung. Dung also attracts flies and we believe the mites probably prey on Maggots, the larvae of the flies. We hope Eric Eaton can confirm this. There is a wonderful macro photo of the Mites identified as the order Mesostigmata on BugGuide.

Angelitos picture and question?
They pose not threat?so if I touch it it wont burn?it sure looks like it would.this pic was taken in south texas around mission.if you look at the pic upside down it looks like a face on it.locals call it an angel face.thanks for your site it is really helpful.

To the best of our knowledge, Angelitos or Velvet Mites do not pose a threat to humans. The do feed on the eggs of grasshoppers and on termites. Thanks for your local lore on this distinctive arthropod.

Update: (11/25/2007)
Some additional information on the velvet mite.
There was a Nova episode the other week on killer ants[0] and in it there was some good information on the velvet mite. The people in Cameroon use the first appearance of the velvet mite as a sign that it is time to clear the fields and start planting their millet crops. If the mite is comming out that means it will rain soon.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova /ants/

Burying Beetle: babies or parasites?
I found this swimming around in the cat’s water dish one morning in West Tennessee. I forgot to get a photo with a size reference, but it was about an inch long. I believe it might be a burying beetle? Although its markings differ from the other photos on your site. The freaky part, though, was the swarm of little bugs on its back. They were running around, trying to stay dry. I think they might have eight legs; mites, maybe? At any rate, I put the whole shebang outdoors to continue playing out its drama. I love the site. I saw my first cicada killer last summer, and you guys helped me identify it. Thanks!
D

Hi D,
These are neither babies nor parasites. They are Mites, but they are not parasitic on the beetle. The young beetle larvae eat rotting carrion, so anything that shares the same diet becomes a threat to the survival of the next generation of Burying Beetles or Sexton Beetles. Maggots, the immature form of flies, are competitors for this food source. The Mites eat fly eggs and freshly hatched maggots. The Mites do not fly and have no means of getting to their next meal once they have eaten all the maggots on a corpse. The Burying Beetle flies from food source to food source. The Mites are just hitching a ride on the Beetle. This is a mutually advantageous or symbiotic relationship. The Mites get a new food source, and they devour the competitors for the young beetles’ food supply. Burying Beetles carrying large quantities of Mites have a better chance of producing offspring. Phoresy is the proper term for one organism hitching a ride on a more mobile organism. We have seen photos of some Burying Beetles so laden with Mites, it is a wonder they can fly.

whats that bug on my bug
This is by far my favorite web site! I have a giant ferocious water-bug in a 10 gallon tank, just as you had suggested to that lady 2 months ago. He is more fascinating than any bug I have ever had…my Potato bug used to eat crickets like they were cheeseburgers. Anyway, there are half a pin head size, red bugs starting to multiply on his back, though they do not look like the photo of eggs you have and it has taken 2 months for the one we could barely see swimming around in the tank to securely attach itself to our bug and multiply into about 12. Any guesses? I will try to get a macro photo of them, but here is one of my favorites…
Tom

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your nice letter. Your Toe Biter sounds like it might be carrying mites around.

Mites on the toe-biter?
Hi Daniel and Lisa Ann,
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