![]() A recent rain triggered a mass exodus of the mites from the ground around her home and she had the pleasure of introducing her grandson to the delightful Summer Rain Bugs. Nancy and Tess would watch for the mites every summer. In Cadiz, my friend Nancy Lawson introduced her daughter Tess to the little red charmers while she was growing up. Children are especially delighted by the plush little bugs and let them crawl on their hands and arms. In years without good rains, the mites don’t come out at all. They only appear for a matter of hours after warm-season rains. In the United States, the Giant Red Velvet Mites are considered to be a rare novelty of nature. The oil is sometimes referred to as “Indian Viagra.” Considering how distasteful the mites are, I suspect the partakers are quite desperate. More often the dried mite oil is sold as an aphrodisiac, particularly for men. There is anecdotal evidence that the dried mite can cure paralysis. The dried mite powder or oil is sold in the bazaars. In India, the Giant Red Velvet Mites are collected, dried, and used as a medicine. Presumably, the red color evolved as a warning to predators that they were not good to eat. They evolved the antifungal oil to protect themselves in the world of decomposition in which they live. Red Velvet Mites are distasteful because their bodies contain an antifungal oil. The odd individual that chomps down on a mite soon spits it out. Scientists have experimented by putting the mites in the path of lizards, birds, and other predators. It turns out that almost nothing preys on Giant Red Velvet Mites. You would think a fancy, bright-red mite would be easy picking for a predator. When the eggs hatch, the tiny larvae began to feed on small insects in the soil. There, she sits on one of the sperm bubbles and fertilizes her eggs. ![]() When she is convinced that he is a suitable mate, the female mite follows the silken trail to the garden. If the trail is not enough to entice the female to enter the bower, then he does a special little dance. He waits for a female mite to happen by and be charmed by the silken trail. Then he goes out and lays a trail of silken fibers leading to the garden. He deposits sperm packets in bubble-like dollops around on the twigs. The male mite builds a “love garden” of small twigs and grass stems. Much of the time they hibernate in those burrows, but when conditions are right, they come out to engage in a remarkable mating ritual. The Giant Red Velvet Mites feast for a few hours after rains and then return to their own burrows. The mated termites drop to the ground, bite off their now-useless wings, and proceed to bury themselves in the soil as fast as they can. The desert termite is a favorite food item for the Giant Red Velvet Mites, but the mites have to hurry. The reproductive, winged stage of the desert termite emerges to mate in nuptial flights after such monsoon rains. Adult mites have fang-like mouthparts they use to kill and eat insects, particularly those that come out after a heavy summer rain, like the desert termite. The mites’ larval forms are parasitic blood-suckers on insects like grasshoppers. ![]() Giant Red Velvet Mites are completely harmless to people, pets, and plants. The India species, Trombium grandissimum, can get to 0.8 inches long! Our species is called Dinothrombium magnificum and the adults max out at about 0.5 inches. But in India and here in the southwest United States, we have Giant Red Velvet Mites. Most are tiny, less than a tenth of an inch across. There are a number of species of Red Velvet Mites found around the world. But unlike any other arachnid I know of, these Summer Rain Bugs were cute! They reminded me of tiny “Beanie Babies” covered in red plush fabric.Īn Internet search turned up the real name for these bugs: Red Velvet Mites. Well, that cinched it: these bugs were arachnids, cousins to spiders, ticks, and mites. ![]() You wouldn’t even know they were bugs until you saw them moving around on tiny legs. They looked like little red velvet sacks with dimples. Each bug was about a half-inch across and it was covered in bright red fuzz. Children of all ages are delighted by these tiny animals. These mites come out of the soil after heavy warm-season rains and are thus nicknamed Summer Rain Bugs. It looks like a dimpled velvet sack with eight legs. This is not a “Beanie Baby” but an actual bug! This half-inch-long creature is called a Giant Red Velvet Mite, because regular mites are much smaller. Recently after a hard rain shower, a bunch of strange red bugs crawled out of the ground on a ranch in Cadiz, Texas (which is pronounced “KAY-dees” as you probably know.) The soil in the Cadiz community is mostly sandy, and these small creatures came out of silk-lined tunnels in the sand. ![]() Just when I think I have seen every weird thing in nature, something new surprises me. By Karen Benson, certified Texas Master Naturalist ![]()
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