urbpan | 100 Species #39: Velvet mite

Unearthed by yard work, a velvet mite (quite probably Trombidium holosericeum, a species found throughout the northern part of the northern hemisphere but who the hell knows? Family Trombidiidae for sure) lumbers across an open palm.

Velvet mites are giants among mites, measured in millimeters instead of micrometers. Their most striking feature is their pelage of vibrant red hairs, an umambiguous message meaning "I taste bad, birdies." (It is thought, by the way, that poison dart frogs obtain their poisons from the tropical mites they consume.) Velvet mites are beneficial creatures to the garden, feeding on other arthropods and their eggs. Their young, like many mite nymphs, are fluid-sucking parasites. Fortunately for us, they suck the fluids from insects, not humans or other vertebrates.