Itch mite
The itch mite is so tiny you cannot see it without a microscope. It has a round body like a little tortoise and no eyes at all. It digs tunnels in the skin of people and animals and makes them very itchy.
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Fun facts
Its babies have only six legs. They get their last pair of legs when they grow bigger.
In 1687 it became the first human illness that people knew was caused by a tiny living thing.
A mother mite needs about 25 minutes to an hour to dig into the skin.
It does not only live on people. Dogs, cats, pigs, wombats and even koalas can get it too.
Most people with scabies have only about a dozen mites, but that is enough to make them itch a lot, especially at night.
Most asked questions about Itch mite
?What is an itch mite?
A tiny relative of spiders that lives in the skin and causes the itchy illness scabies.
?Can you see an itch mite?
No. It is less than half a millimetre long, so you need a microscope.
?How do you get scabies?
Mostly by skin touching skin with someone who has the mites. A doctor can give medicine to get rid of them.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Sarcoptes scabiei
- Group
- Scorpions, ticks and friends
- Family
- Sarcoptidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Sarcoptiformes > Sarcoptidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Scabies mite
Where the facts come from
- Sarcoptes scabiei (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 Kalumet. 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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