Warning Adult Content?
Sept 4 2019
I was filming the Blobs in S. Yellow Jacket and I think I got a little too much personal information. It looked like one blob was riding another blob. Could it be I caught them in the act of sweet, sweet blob love? Mite be.
This behavior is typical of mating mites, according to what I’ve read online. There is a paper that goes into this in some detail. Unfortunately, I can’t find the reference. The paper detailed how the male had some sort of adaptation of it’s arms facilitate holding on. The paper also had an amusing experiment. They were dropping water droplets on the happy couple to see how many drops it takes to break them up. Which wins the award in my book for the silliest experiment in grad school.
I will update when I find this paper.
I spotted the couple roaming around the dead aphids. Not necessarily the most romantic location, but who am I to judge. I tracked them for about minutes. Eventually the couple walked to the water’s surface and they went their separate ways. I was not able to get them focused. It shows how difficult it is to film tiny animals (half a millimeter) on the move.