Lichen with Spider Mites by Chipka

Photography • Flowers/Plants • posted on May 20, 2013

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Description

The trees along Institute Place (one of those streets in Chicago, known for its vanity name) are fairly young. A few of them, as evidenced in my gallery, are encrusted with the flagrant exuberance of healthy lichens. A few of them, as I discovered yesterday, are now home to red spider mites. I cannot say that they exist in numbers prodigious enough to harm their host trees, but their presence—to me—indicates the possibility of a hot, dry summer. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. I suppose I can handle hot and dry: it’s that dog’s belly humidity I don’t like. I don’t dislike red spider mites. I don’t really know that much about them. They’re miniscule creatures; too small to be of interest: too small to capture and breed in captivity, as they’d simply walk out of their containment facilities, and find the most inconvenient (and embarrassing) place to set up housekeeping. As they are mites, I suspect that they are more than a little willing to induce itches, though red spider mites have no interest in humans. They’re vegetarian. They prefer salads to meat. There are a few, nice salads growing just outside of my workplace. The spider mites in this image seem to have found something of interest in a few overlapping colonies of lichens. I snapped this photograph on a cigarette break; one of my co-workers has developed an interest in lichen photography. She wanted to see the photograph. I showed her the raw version of it on my camera screen. The mites made her itchy, which just goes to indicate that red spider mites may very well possess the ability to induce quantum itching. They don’t need physical contact with their itch-victim, the itch victim simply knows that the tick-shaped vegetarians exist. Hopefully these little critters won’t induce itching here on Renderosity. There are too few of them, though a breeding female can product up to a million offspring per year. This, I’ve been led to understand, is an indication that red spider mites are supremely busy little people. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.

Comments (18)

ronmolina

3:27PM | Mon, 20 May 2013

Informative and interesting. New knowledge for me today. Thanks!

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blinkings

4:14PM | Mon, 20 May 2013

I like!

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flavia49

4:16PM | Mon, 20 May 2013

great work

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Faemike55

7:35PM | Mon, 20 May 2013

obviously they do not have access to Netflix or cable....if they breed that much Great capture and narrative

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KatesFriend

7:43PM | Mon, 20 May 2013

Would you say then that 'quantum itching' is an example of entanglement? The 'spooky effect' as Einstein once described. The fact that they are vegetarian would suggest a weak entanglement. If so, then if your friend scratched herself would that then force a red spider mite to twitch somewhere in world? Indeed, if we all refused to scratch ourselves then would spider mites stop twitching altogether? As for seasonal weather predictions; it is the Victoria Day weekend here in Canada - the unofficial start of the summer season for most of us Canadians. Normally this day is more spring time chilly in the mornings and late afternoons. This time however it was A/C tempting muggy - fortunately I have a fan. We expect thunderstorms tonight as the air cools. I suspect another hot summer - remember 'Ladies and the Tram'? Having said that there is something festive about your photo. It makes me think of cooler times. But maybe I sense the mites' joy in anticipating what will no doubt be a (re)productive season for them. The sharp reds and greens speak of a more festive season for humans - at least in the western world. Which I'm sure the mites prefer to sleep through. GO LEAFS G----- Oh yeah, its too late for that. -whimper

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auntietk

9:29PM | Mon, 20 May 2013

I think they hang out on lichen because they know how nicely contrasty they look there. :)

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photosynthesis

9:32PM | Mon, 20 May 2013

A million offspring per year? If they were subject to taxation, that would be a very hefty deduction. No quantum itching here, but they do add a nice touch of color to this fine abstract composition...

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