6 replies to this topic

[zpiter]

Hi guys, I caught two carebara months ago and both of them aren't doing so well. I had them in a dirt setup at first but after I realize they keep eating their eggs, I moved them to test tube setup to have a better look into the situation.
One week after transferring them into test tube setup, which is last night, I went to check on them. To my shock I found dozens of mites all over the test tube and on the queen's body.
I read about using lemon juice to get rib of the mites but I believe I shall ask any guys here that had face this issue and get it fix.

[drtrmiller]

Some species of Carebara have really big queens with miniscule-sized workers. Better hope it's that, because if they are mites, then the queen is a gonner. 

[dspdrew]

Well you need to find out if they are parasitic mites before drawing any conclusions.

[zpiter]

Well you need to find out if they are parasitic mites before drawing any conclusions.

 

My phone doesn't allow me to take clean photo of it, but it is a parasitic mites.

[noebl1]

During the Lasius flights up here this week, one of the male alates I saw had a couple reasonably good sized mites on it.  Probably more common on the alates than we realize.

[drtrmiller]

During the Lasius flights up here this week, one of the male alates I saw had a couple reasonably good sized mites on it.  Probably more common on the alates than we realize.

 

There are a few mite species that are endemic to exclusively Lasius, while other species use ants for transport/distribution, not feeding on the ants themselves.  I learned a few things about ant/mite associations from glossing over a few pages from this book:

 

Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour

 

http://amzn.to/2cc2cEF

Edited by drtrmiller, September 11 2016 - 11:05 AM.

[dspdrew]

The common parasitic mites that I see, I can easily recognize. I find them on new queens every so often. Fortunately, with a microscope and my fifty dollar pair of forceps, I'm able to remove them without too much trouble.