Harvest mite
The harvest mite is a tiny orange or red mite, so small you can hardly see it. Its babies wait on blades of grass and grab on to animals and people walking by. Their bites can make your skin very itchy.
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Fun facts
The babies have only six legs, but they grow eight legs as they get older, like other mites.
A baby harvest mite is only 0,2 millimetres long, smaller than a grain of sand.
The babies climb up blades of grass and wait there for an animal to brush past.
After feeding for a few days, the babies drop off and grow into grown-up mites in the soil.
Most asked questions about Harvest mite
?What are harvest mites?
They are tiny red or orange mites. Their babies bite animals and people in grassy places and make the skin itchy.
?Are harvest mite bites dangerous?
No, but they can be very itchy. Tell a grown-up if your skin itches after playing in the grass.
?Do harvest mites bite dogs?
Yes. Dogs and small animals like mice often get them.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Neotrombicula autumnalis
- Group
- Scorpions, ticks and friends
- Family
- Trombiculidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Trombidiformes > Trombiculidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Autumn chigger
Where the facts come from
- Neotrombicula autumnalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Tib124. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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