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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Gorse Mites (Tetranychus lintearius) swarming on their communal web. These tiny arachnids form ghostly webs on gorse bushes (Ulex). The web is not used to trap prey, but rather to act as protection for the colony. The mites feed on the plant by piercing and sucking the liquid from it. Severe infestations result in the whole plant becoming smothered in web, yellowing and in some cases death. In New Zealand and Australia where gorse is an introduced plant pest, the mites have been introduced as a form of biological control.
Each mite is tiny, less than a millimetre and one of the smallest things I've ever tried to photograph. I used a 100mm Canon USM macro with an extension tube. You can see an even closer shot of the mites here
Regards
Vinny www.vincentblood.com |
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![Silver Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 39 W: 0 N: 258]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-g.gif){kind=small}
