mites & butterfly eggs

[Ernest Williams]

In northwest Wyoming years ago, I found mites feeding on Euphydryas 
gillettii eggs.  Someone else identified the specimens as erythraid 
mites...but I know nothing about mite systematics and can't tell you 
more.

Ernest Williams
Clinton, NY



>  > I suspect ants for much egg predation, but there are a host of suspects.
>
>	One suspect would be the little red mites that one often sees on
>plants. Many years ago I was photographing a _Papilio machaon_ egg through
>a microscope--and as I was taking the slides a red mite strolled up, and
>began sucking out the contents of the egg. The mite was only a little bit
>larger than the egg, so this was a substantial meal! I still have the
>slide...
>
>							Ken Philip
>

 
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