Red Velvet Mite

I was working in one of my wildlife food plots and noticed a bright red dot on a rock was moving. Closer inspection identified the "red dot" as a Red Velvet Mite (Trombidiidae).



Red Velvet Mites are only 1/64 - 1/8 inch long (round ?) but easy to see due to their bright red color. The adults have four pairs of legs, but the larvae of red velvet mites have only three pairs of legs.



The velvet mites are predators and they feed on other invertebrates like small arthropods and their eggs. They are absolutely harmless to humans.



They are not eaten by any predators, simply because they taste very bad, but the adult mites sometimes eat each other.