Subject: Red Bug
Geographic location of the bug: North Georgia Mountains
Date: 03/18/2018
Time: 03:44 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: We’d appreciate your assisting in identifying this beautiful bug.
How you want your letter signed: Monroe DeVos
Dear Monroe,
This looks to us like a Velvet Mite in the family Trombidiidae and though data on BugGuide indicates this is a very wide ranging family in North America, most of our reports come from the arid Southwest and most appearances happen after rains. According to BugGuide: “Larvae parasitize insects and arachnids of all major orders. Adults eat insect eggs.” Your individual resembles this posting on BugGuide, also from Georgia, that is identified as being in the genus Eutrombidium, and according to BugGuide: “Larvae are parasites of grasshoppers, adults are predacious.”
You are the best….!
Thank you,
Monroe
Definitely the genus Eutrombidium (Microtrombidiidae), the larvae of which are ectoparasites on grasshopper wings.