... upon his back to bite 'im

A week or so ago, I was poking at an old log on the hillside above Kwomais Point, looking for spots of yellow slime mold, and a big, red beetle ran out from beneath it. He came home with me, in a cosy plastic bag.

I housed him with a handful of log bits in a lidded plastic bowl. He had company; the wood swarmed with tiny flies, assorted miniscule beetles, and at least one sowbug.

And I tried to get a decent photo of him.


He wasn't co-operating; he never stopped running, not even when I put him down for a nap in the fridge. I did my best, but most of the photos were of a blurred backside or the last segment of a leg. I gave up and put the whole container outside, in the cool. When I had time, I would try again.

Out of a hundred or so photos, some must turn out. This did.

Later that evening, I was sorting the photos, when I noticed something about them. Look at that last one, zooming in:


Do you see it?

Big fleas have little fleas,
Upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas,
and so, ad infinitum.

I checked all the photos; there were three, maybe four of these along for the ride. Mites of some sort.

It's been a hectic week; I didn't check on Big Red, as I was calling him, until this evening. Unfortunately, in the interim, he has died. Sorry about that, Red; I should have let you go free last week.

But at least I could get a good look at his face, which he wasn't allowing before. I moved him to the upturned lid and lowered the light over him. A bunch of little red specks, fast-moving specks, came with him. Oh. The mites; I had forgotten.

Poor, dead Big Red, overrun with hungry parasites.

The mites. Spider-like, but with only 3 pair of legs.*

Red-brown waistcoat, cinched with a white belt, white tail end.

The rest of the community in the plastic bowl seemed happy and busy, and I am sleepy. So Big Red and his mites went back among them; I will keep an eye on things and see what happens. Will the mites multiply? Leave him a shell only? Fill him with eggs? Go away and leave him to rot? Will those yellow slime molds develop here? Oh, the possibilities!

And I got that face shot: look at these jaws!


And four little spoons to hold his food. Handy.

*Update: Christopher Taylor to the rescue again! (See comments) The mites have 4 pairs of legs, not 3, as I said. The front ones are held up, like antennae. (The better to grab you with, my dear.)
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