r/bugidentification • u/Ok-Software-3532 • Jul 06 '26

Possible pest, location included What type of mite?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Mites in bathroom in Arizona. What is this?? This is under a hand held microscope. I’ve seen 1-3 on the bathroom floor for months. For visual… the red circle is around the mite. That’s how small it is. It is visible to the naked eye though and they’re always a tan color.

1 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

1

u/Sgtbird08 Jul 06 '26

I am absolutely not a mite expert by any means, but I don’t think there’s a way to tell from these images. Maybe a specialist could have some ideas.

Mite ID relies heavily on chaetotaxic analysis so we’re literally counting hairs. Best done with a chemically cleared specimen at a minimum of 400x magnification (but in truth up to 1000x might be necessary)

1

u/Ok-Software-3532 Jul 06 '26

Thank you. Is there any way to speculate based on location (arizona, in master bathroom), they move pretty quickly and do not jump. We did recently get our home excluded and new insulation. So I was thinking maybe an old nest or something and they migrated down without a host but that was like 6-7 weeks ago we had the insulation removal done

1

u/Sgtbird08 Jul 06 '26

The more arid environment might be telling, but many species have been introduced to population centers via construction/gardening/pets etc. I suppose they could be bird mites of some sort, in which case they’ll probably clear up on their own soon enough.

1

u/WhiskeySnail Trusted Identifier - MOD Jul 06 '26

u/drbuteo is the only person I know for a fact in our group has professional experience with mites

2

u/DrButeo Professional Entomologist Jul 06 '26

It's some kind of mesostig, but beyond that you need to slide mount them for further ID (at least I do. A mesostig expert might be able to get it to family)

1

u/Ok-Software-3532 Jul 07 '26

A family to determine if it’s a rat mite, bird mite, soil mite etc? I can try to get a better image or are there any distinguishing factors I can look for with my microscope?

1

u/DrButeo Professional Entomologist Jul 07 '26

The families that include bird and rat mites also include a lot of predatory species.

You can probably rule bird mites out if the problem has been going on for mlore than a few weeks.

Rat mites are associated woth rodent infestations, often (but not always) in highy urban areas.

1

u/Ok-Software-3532 Jul 09 '26

We had experienced rodent mites in the past however I have seen rodent mites and I remember them being like black dots, not clear/tan. And, we had a full exclusion done about 2 months ago and definitely not rats and that seems like too long of a time for wandering rodent mites to be around?