Hypoaspis miles and true spiders

[diadematus]

So my package of 12,500 predatory mites arrived today. Below is a photo of the package that arrived (delivered at arm's length by the letter carrier, who perhaps had seen the return label "Schneckenprofi"). I added a large heaping tablespoonful to the containers with the Theridion and the Thanatus vulgaris. Both spiders seem to regard the little mites as food (and I wonder if they would make a good meal for small spiderlings). But perhaps some good will still come of this little "experiment".

The adult mites can be seen with the naked eye, but just barely, and it's much easier when they are moving. They can move at a pretty good clip. This seems to happen in waves: one minute you'll think that the substrate is barren and the next, there is an army of them climbing up the walls of the container. It is possible to move them about and catch them by coaxing them onto the tweezer tips.

In my second picture you can see two of the mites, and on the right you can see... I don't know what. Perhaps a juvenile form of them? The background is the paper bag that they came in. The scale markings represent approz. 1 mm (1/25th of an inch).

-Kevin

 

[cacoseraph]

my buddy had hypoaspis shipped to him with carrion eating mites included as a food source for the hypos. maybe same here?

AWESOME pic, btw!

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Hypoaspis mites and true spiders

Dear diadematus:

You see why they insert "too many" mites!!!
Uninformed spiders may eat ALL the "extras!!!"
Let us hope that those "extras" add up enough to get some work done!!!

There is a good chance that they have.
Your spiders' appetites may indicate that they feel better;although their dinner choice would seem to indicate that they do not know why.

Let us know what happens next.

Yours very truly,

Louise Esther Rothstein.

 

[diadematus]

Your spiders' appetites may indicate that they feel better;although their dinner choice would seem to indicate that they do not know why.

Hi Louise,

They "feel better"? I thought I was bad about anthropomorphizing.

In any event, their appetite was never in question.

Attached is a shot of a Theridion I shot this evening just outside the apartment. I think she's in worse shape.

-Kevin

 

[Stylopidae]

Is that a maggot?

 

[Galapoheros]

First thing I noticed too . What is that white wormy thing on the left side of that spider? Or is it just a funny angle of a leg or something like that?

I ordered Hypos from a company here in the US. Like Caco said they come with feeder mites for the Hypos. I was little disturbed when I saw them because the feeder mites looked very much like the parasitic sp of mites I was having a problem with! But that was also a good sign that they would eat the parasitic mites in my cages. But, I couldn't find any Hypos in the container I received, just the feeder mites! I returned it and they were nice enough to refund my money after they took a look at it themselves. I think most companies offering these assume people buying these are doing so for their gardens, to take care of bad mites on plants.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Hypoaspis mites and true spiders

Dear Cheshire,

How did THAT get there?!? It sure LOOKS like a maggot!!!

My mothfly larvae do not.
They look like darkling waterworms.
And even my mothfly PUPAE can swim and dive.

My woodland fruitfly larvae look more like maggots...but not on spiders.
They prefer to go swimming.Although they are less aquabatic than my larval mothflies they can swim to and from floating food until they are ready to pupate...at which point any in water really have to climb out of it.

Woodland fruitflies breed just fine without visible water.

Moth flies do not.
They WANT water.
"Foody" water...they breed poorly without that water.

Yours very truly,
Louise Esther Rothstein.

 

[diadematus]

One last post for this evening -- not that I can top the darling waterworms.

Here is another shot of a Hypoaspis mite -- this time much smaller -- just barely visible as a moving dust mote against a contrasting surface. This size still moves pretty quickly, but are much slower than their larger brethren (parents?). The deep-green background is on the back cover of the German Cosmos nature guide "Which Spider is That?", with at least a 150 lpi if not 200 lpi half-tone screen; the marks are from a millimeter scale.

 

[Emanuele]

The larva on the Theridion is a larval stage of a parasitic wasp.
Cheers
Ema

 

[diadematus]

The larva on the Theridion is a larval stage of a parasitic wasp.

"It's a hard-knock life" -- also for spiders.

-Kevin

 

[Galapoheros]

One last post for this evening -- not that I can top the darling waterworms.

Here is another shot of a Hypoaspis mite -- this time much smaller -- just barely visible as a moving dust mote against a contrasting surface. This size still moves pretty quickly, but are much slower than their larger brethren (parents?). The deep-green background is on the back cover of the German Cosmos nature guide "Which Spider is That?", with at least a 150 lpi if not 200 lpi half-tone screen; the marks are from a millimeter scale.

I'd bet that one is not a Hypo. The package I received came with an insert that said, "You may see smaller white mites. These are feeder mites for the Hypoaspis mites....". That may not be the case with your package but from what I'm seeing, it's starting to look to me like a standard thing for people that raise these for sale to use these mites as feeders. Young Hypos are lighter in color too so, that could be a Hypo. My camera takes pretty good macro shots but I just can't get that close. A friend of mine just bought a high dollar microscope. It's got me fired up to get one too. Came with a camera adapter....something. Hadn't seen it yet.

 

[Arlius]

H. miles do have various stages from egg's to nymphs to adults. The nearly clear look like first stage H. miles, the last pic looks like 1 molt from adult (though it is difficult to tell as I can't tell if some of the 'legs' are artifacts from the background). And of course the adults beside the nearly clear ones.
The body structure is correct, but I am not a mite expert, just have used em a number of times (and never received 'feeder mites' with it. There is ~25,000 of them per litre, and they live without food for up to a week, so it is not necessary to provide, so not all dealers put in the 'feeders' (most don't actually)

 

[diadematus]

There is ~25,000 of them per litre, and they live without food for up to a week, so it is not necessary to provide, so not all dealers put in the 'feeders' (most don't actually)

I wouldn't think so, as there might otherwise be truth in advertising problems. These normally go into greenhouses, etc. -- or so their literature suggests.

I am still skeptical that they will do much for the Theridion, because I don't see their being many opportunities for contact. But I suppose if by chance some predatory mites in a smaller stage are able to migrate onto her that they might help. I'll take some more pictures in a couple days.

-Kevin

 

[Galapoheros]

Heeeyyy, maybe you could get the Hypos on to one of it's potential prey. Then they might transfer off the prey to the spider before they get eaten. I've personally seen this in action. The feeder mite question is only going to get resolved with a simple phone call to the company or an email. I tried to read the email on the package in the pic and think I got it, but I couldn't make a connection with Goog. Not that it's a big deal but I'm curious. You know, stuff like this has a way with being a part of solving bigger probs later if you keep digging....sometimes. Sometimes, it goes nowhere but you never know:? .

 

[danread]

The smaller hairier mites that are found in with the predatory mites (Stratiolaelaps miles not hypoaspis miles BTW) are prey mites, most likely Acarus sp. The juvenile of S. miles look much like the adults, but are smaller and lighter in colour.

 

[diadematus]

I took a look at the Theridion today, after almost two weeks, and could see no change in the mite population on her body; if anything, maybe a mite or two more than she had before. I can't yet say about the Thanatus vulgaris as I don't yet have any good photographs and she only had a couple on her.

So, I think that for common, native spiders, collected in the backyard, this was not worth the effort or expense. But I did learn not to buy crickets from my local "big box hardware, pets, and more" store.

-Kevin

 

[diadematus]

I took a look at the Theridion today, after almost two weeks, and could see no change in the mite population on her body; if anything, maybe a mite or two more than she had before.

BTW, I took a look today at the package of predatory mites, most of which had been left in the original packaging (opened) and then sealed in a flat tupperware container. It seems that quite a few were still alive.

So a dropped a couple of the curly-winged flies in there and left them for an hour before feeding one to the small Theridion. Perhaps Galopoherus's suggestion that the prey might work to convey them might work. Will look again in a day or so.

-K

 

[doom]

Hi.
I also ordered S. miles from www.schneckenprofi.de couple months ago for my centipedes. The predatory mites are still alive. I found bad mites in my cricket colony, so i took some dead crix out and placed them in a jar with peat and the lid. Bad mites started to breed. Then i shake in some soil with S. miles.
I took a quicktime movie of nymphs, but i'm not sure if they belong to S. miles.
This nymphs looks like S. miles. They have longer front legs.
There is also one other mite species for comparison, but a lot bigger.

Sorry for the zoom noise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPaC4s7-DQc