Warning - contains pics of bugs! Can anybody identify this mite/bug please?

lala9

Hi

I hope someone can help us, we appear to have been invaded by these little pests in recent weeks!  They only seem to occupy front facing rooms (north/east facing - so sun in mornings) and collect in window sills and walls surrounding the window.  Our ensuite shower room is particularly affected.  They are tiny, smaller than a flea, and the diameter of a coarse human hair, brown in colour and pretty quick.  Please see the photo which is magnified x10 to capture a detailed image but still fuzzy.  They remind me of the tiny red spiders you can sometimes get on red brick buildings. 

Our house is new build if that bears any relevance, there is a very narrow band of grass to each side of the footpath to the frontage, with approx 5 inch gravel border up to the brickwork.  The only other foliage is laurel which borders the tiny garden, so approx. 1m away from the house.

Hope you can help :-)

Tea_Pea_Dee

They look like red spider mite to me.  I have quite a few on my walls as well. 

EDIT:  My house was built c1860 so not sure if build date has any relevance.

lala9

Tea_Pea_Dee said:

They look like red spider mite to me.  I have quite a few on my walls as well. 

EDIT:  My house was built c1860 so not sure if build date has any relevance.

Hi Tea Pea Dee - they don't look red, where as red spider mites are unmistakeably bright red, these are brown with orange/red legs and antennae ;-(

Tea_Pea_Dee

My colour on this laptop must need adjusting, the top one, which is the only one I looked at, stupidly, looks red.  My other guess is that it could be a weevil of some sort.  Are they on any of your plants?  If not, and just on the masonry, I wouldn't really worry about them.  They don't look particularly threatening to brickwork. Someone more knowledgeable than me, a chimp will suffice , will be along soon.  Good luck

Sorry, I must learn not to skim read/observe.  Didn't realise they were indoors.  After lots of googling, they are very similar to clover mites (related to our old friend the red spider mite).  They are not harmful to humans in any way.  Whatever they may be, they are coming in from the window, presumably from the grass or the shrub.  Wipe them up and keep window openings to a minimum. although I appeciate the weather is mighty scorchio.  Failing that, let them have the run of the house and you go and live in the shrub

Green_hopeful

Not all spider mites are red. If you do a google image search you will see some others. I had trouble with them on my plants.  I got some spider mite killer at Jungle Seeds. They sell it in smaller qualities. It seems to have worked. 

twopenny

They are quite cute looking. If it's a big problem you could try and ant trap on the window sill. It attracts as food and they take it back to the nest. Ant powder might work but it's a bit messy.

I like a challenge. I've trawled google and can't match them. I'll look at my insect book over lunch. For now I've got to go and have a shower after looking at all those little legs.

twopenny

OK bear with me.

The body looks like a shield bug but the legs don't seem to be quite the same.

I've found the same shape and markings which seem to be a nymph stage ie they've hatched and will go through several changes.

I'm going to make a guess that these are immature bugs, mere babies, that were probably living quite happily on the land your house has been built on and got caught up in human habitation by accident. That these will be around as they hatch and then, with the buildings and such, will take off and find somewhere more pleasurable and plant like to inhabit.

It might be worth sending the photo to somewhere more clued up on bugs and asking if they can identify it. I did a search 'how to identify bugs uk' and seeing which might identify them for you.

Apodemus

twopenny said:

 I'll look at my insect book over lunch. For now I've got to go and have a shower after looking at all those little legs.

As far as I can make out, there is one pair of legs too many per beastie for them to be in your insect book!

I’d go with the earlier suggestion of clover mites or a similar species, either from the vegetation outside or from previous vegetation that is now buried under the new-build house.  Outside chance that these are coming from a now-abandoned birds nest in your eaves/loft space, but if that was the case, you’d likely be itching!

twopenny

If there are 8 then it's a mite. But I can only see 6

Lala, could you please make a leg count?

Apodemus

twopenny said:

If there are 8 then it's a mite. But I can only see 6

Lala, could you please make a leg count?

Yes, it could be that what I am counting includes the background pattern of the surface!  Certainly the description of them being speedy is more suggestive of insects (or spiderlings) than mites.

twopenny

I missed the speedy bit. That would remove the idea of any type of sheild bug.

But there are only 2 body parts which is a tad unusual. Looks like an aphid body but they don't move fast. This is driving me nuts I've looked at so many.

Lala if you find out please let us know.