Mites on Drosera now, too!?! Mites getting into trouble, again.

Caught a mite roaming around on the Drosera Spatulata. I was focussed in tight on a dead insect, when I spotted movement. I moved the pencam, and there it was. A mite on the tip of one of the sticky glands. I thought “Poor little guy, you must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. You’re stuck now.” But no, He just kept on walking. He left the sticky stuff and went on to check out the drosera’s prey. Apparently, no one told him that you’re supposed to stick to drosera.

Why aren't you stuck?

The mite on a dead insect, covered in digestive stuff.

For scale the mite is at the arrow.

Sorry if the video is a little shaky, but that's what happens at high magnification. A small movement of the camera, just adjusting the focus, causes the shake. Plus I am constantly adjusting the focus to track my very small prey. In this video, you don’t have to wait long for the star of the show. The mite is on a sticky droplet on the left side of the leaf (see pictures) Also at some point in the video I caught a fleeting glimpse of other mites on the leaf.

Not sure what to make of this. What was that mite doing there? Was it there to grab an easy meal from the drosera (They are detritivores, after all.) Was this mite from the Sarracenia an inch away or was this a “regular” mite that lives in the local dirt? (They seem to move faster than the pitcher plant mites I normally see, but I could be wrong) Is it stealing food or is it acting as a commensal, like in the pitcher plant? Perhaps, helping the drosera break down it’s food? Is this a one off, or is this happening routinely? Are there any mites on other drosera?

Not sure about the answers to most of those questions, but the last two, I can answer. I looked at a few random d. Spatulata leaves, and voila, there they are. I haven’t spotted any mites on my other drosera, but these little guys are very easy to miss. So I will keep looking.

Stay tuned.

Note also, that the mites aren’t the only thing not stuck on the sticky stuff. Midway into this mite-hunt, a random insect photobombs the shot. Not sure what it is but it wanders around, unaffected by the drosera stickiness, eventually wandering away. Is it stealing the drosera’s food? (If so, that wouldn’t be the first time. I caught some ants stealing a mosquito from a d. Capensis last year. Sneaky little buggars!)