Plant mites (friend ot foe?)

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:06 pm

I was poking around a Viburnum bud with the stereo microscope and came across a few resident mites. I understand some are "good guys", predatory mites that feed on their undesirable cousins, while others are considered pests (at least if you are primarily interested in healthy plants). I don't know enough about them to tell the difference, but here are two of them.

Olympus BHS, 10/0.40 S Plan Apo, brightfield (with very slight crossed polarizers), recorded at 22X on Canon T3i sensor.

The appearance of the one below is different than normally observed due to the lighting used... crossed polarizers with darkfield. It showed some interior birefringent features and more internal details. In "natural" illumination it appeared a uniform greenish-yellow overall.

Olympus BHS, 10/0.40 S Plan Apo, crossed polarizers in darkfield, recorded at 22X on Canon T3i sensor.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:27 pm

Love that first one. I assume the bug is dead but it looks very naturally posed.

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:13 pm

The first one is amazing!

Rogelio

arturoag75 · Post by **arturoag75** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:39 am

What a clear background and fantastic subject!
AA+ class shots!
best
arturo

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:03 pm

Charles, lovely photos

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:31 am

They're beauties!