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Any idea what this is?


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9 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Queen - Posted May 15 2021 - 9:53 PM

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I shined a light into the nest of my ants and noticed something extremely extremely tiny and moving. It did not resemble a typical grown springtail or booklice. It was actually much smaller than them and resembled a spec of round dust. I would compare the size to a grain of fine sand (or the period at the end of this sentence). It was just walking about on the glass of the nest.

 

No workers have died in the nest so far, and I don't see any mites on the workers.

 

Any idea what this could be or have you seen anything similar? This is EXTREMELY small and I can't get a picture of it. But I know if I didn't focus hard enough I would've passed it as some sort of tiny dust/dirt/debris. 



#2 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted May 15 2021 - 10:04 PM

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Maybe a beneficial mite? I'm not too sure

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#3 Offline Queen - Posted May 15 2021 - 10:11 PM

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Maybe a beneficial mite? I'm not too sure

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk

 

I hope so... feel a bit anxious here.. haha.



#4 Offline Queen - Posted May 16 2021 - 12:52 AM

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Managed to get a picture at 10x magnification. Doesn't say much though... Could be a booklice nymph?

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#5 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted May 16 2021 - 1:30 AM

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Yep tis a detritivorous (idk if I spelled day right) mite

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#6 Offline SYUTEO - Posted May 16 2021 - 3:20 AM

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I seen some of those on my ant nests too, I think those are a kind of mite, maybe dust or grain mites?


Began antkeeping in 2018  :)

 

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#7 Offline ANTS_KL - Posted May 16 2021 - 3:32 AM

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I seen some of those on my ant nests too, I think those are a kind of mite, maybe dust or grain mites?

I've seen them with mine too. They eat the rubbish that the ants throw out.

Sent from my CPH2201 using Tapatalk
Young ant keeper with a decent amount of knowledge on local ant species.

YouTube: https://m.youtube.co...uKsahGliSH7EqOQ (It's pretty dead. Might upload again soon, don't expect my voice to sound the same though.)

Currently kept ant species, favorites have a star in front of their names (NOT in alphabetical order, also may be outdated sometimes): Camponotus irritans inferior, Ooceraea biroi, Pheidole parva, Nylanderia sp., Paraparatrechina tapinomoides, Platythyrea sp., Anochetus sp., Colobopsis sp. (cylindrica group), Crematogaster ferrarii, Polyrhachis (Myrma) cf. pruinosa, Polyrhachis (Cyrtomyrma) laevissima, Tapinoma sp. (formerly Zatapinoma)

Death count: Probably over a hundred individual queens and colonies by now. I cannot recall whatsoever.

#8 Offline ANTdrew - Posted May 16 2021 - 7:26 AM

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They can explode in numbers and get really annoying. I got rid of mites like that with predatory mites I ordered.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#9 Offline Queen - Posted May 16 2021 - 12:24 PM

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How did you introduce the predatory mites? did you just drop them everywhere (inside and outside of nest)? How much did you drop?

 

Once the dust/grain mites were taken care of... did the predatory mites die off naturally due to lack of food source?



#10 Offline Queen - Posted May 16 2021 - 12:27 PM

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Also, did they eat the springtail / booklice too?






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