Species: Gall mite - unnamed 2 (Aceria macrorhynchus)
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 2 (Aceria macrorhynchus)
Aceria macrorhynchus is a gall mite that causes nail galls on the upper surface of Sycamore tree leaves. The galls are small red blisters that grow out of the upper surface of the leaves of this tree. As the mite feeds from the leaf's surface, chemicals are released, which cause the nail galls to develop. They are common throughout Britain.
Images
Gall mite - unnamed 2
Aceria macrorhynchus is a gall mite that causes nail galls on the upper surface of Sycamore tree leaves.
