Marching Mites

e6filmuser

These are often to be seen on the underside damp wood and bark on the ground. They walk slowly but rarely seem to stop and their legs are rather long, so they get around. These are large for mites, around 3mm across.

EM-1, extension, Leitz Photar 55mm at f11 or f16, TTL flash, one free-standing, hand-held.

Images cropped for composition. There is some sensor dust which my temporary software is ineffective is editing out.

Those brownish, ear-like structures are pseudostimatic organs, a characteristic of cryptostigmatid mites.

Harold

Lord Vetinari

Lovely captures- looks like it belongs in a sci Fi film
Brian V.

e6filmuser

Lord Vetinari wrote: »

Lovely captures- looks like it belongs in a sci Fi film
Brian V.

Thanks, Brian.

Yes, like some of those walking robot gun platforms. These mites would never catch any prey but are harmless detritus eaters.

I had to close down a stop to get all the legs in focus and lost a bit of detail.

Harold

Cavalier

Again, I appreciate the talent and technical expertise it takes to get these shots .................but that is one ugly critter!!

e6filmuser

Cavalier wrote: »

Again, I appreciate the talent and technical expertise it takes to get these shots .................but that is one ugly critter!!

Thanks.

There are uglier ones. Watch this space. They are smaller, too, so the ugliness is concentrated!

Harold

GOLDENORFE

Good one Harold. Must look for these

e6filmuser

GOLDENORFE wrote: »

Good one Harold. Must look for these

Thanks, Phil.

I came across some similar ones once before. They tend to carry debris around with them.

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18488

Harold