Species: Gall mite - unnamed 1 (Eriophyes tiliae)
Family: Gall mites (ERIOPHYIDAE )
Category: Arachnids
Location: Widespread
A. Arachnids
More extensive information on arachnids can be found in a separate blog post.
B. Gall mites (ERIOPHYIDAE )
Gall mites are plant parasites in the Arachnida class. They damage plant tissue, usually leaves, causing galls - abnormal swelling growths on plant tissue. There are about 200 groups of this family of mites, totally approximately 3,500 species, although many more than this number probably exist. This inexact number is due to the fact that such mites are microscopic - invisible to the naked eye.
Gall mites have just two pairs of legs and are spread by wind.
Gall mites are too small to be seen by the naked eye - and to be photographed without specialist high magnification equipment. They are therefore exceptions to the rest of the species listings on this website - along with gall wasps - in that their existence in the Cemetery is established not by direct sight but by the evidence of their activity, the nail galls that their activity causes.
C. Gall mite - unnamed 1 (Eriophyes tiliae)
Eriophyes tiliae is a gall mite that causes nail galls on the upper surface of Large-leaved Lime tree leaves. The galls are red conical protuberances about 8mm in length that grow out of the surface of the leaves of this tree. They appear from late spring throughout summer. As the mites feed from the leaf's surface, chemicals are released which cause the nail galls to develop. Such galls are common throughout Britain.
Images
Gall mite - unnamed 1
Nail galls caused by Eriophyes tiliae mites on the leaves of Large-leaved Lime trees.
Gall mite - unnamed 1
The galls are red conical protuberances about 8mm in length that grow out of the surface of the leaves of this tree. They appear from late spring throughout summer. As the Eriophyes tiliae mites feed from the leaf's surface, chemicals are released which cause the nail galls to develop. Such galls are common throughout Britain.
