European Red Mite

European Red Mites (ERM) are tiny. Like, really tiny. They are only about 0.015 inches big (that's about 1/3 of a millimeter, or the thickness of three sheets of paper stacked together). ERM are arachnids, related to spiders and ticks, which means they have eight legs. If you were able to really see them up close, the females are red with white spots and hair on their backs. The males are yellow and greenish black. Both have white legs. The eggs, were they not too small to see, would be highly noticeable because of their color, ranging from bright red to reddish-orange.

 

ERM overwinter as eggs and begin to hatch in the early spring, actually hatching with only six legs before growing into 8-legged adults. The females lay about 20 eggs in their lifetime, and there can be 7-9 generations of mites in Virginia each year.

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To learn even more about European Red Mites, check out our blog post