Red spider mite
The red spider mite is so tiny that it looks like a red, yellow or dark dot on a leaf. It is not a spider but a mite, a very small cousin of spiders with eight legs. It can spin fine webs on leaves, just like a spider.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Red spider mite compared to YOU?
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How fast is it?
Fun facts
A grown-up female is only about 0.4 millimetres long, smaller than a grain of sand.
In hot, dry weather their number can grow 70 times bigger in just six days.
Gardeners sometimes let another tiny mite loose that hunts and eats red spider mites.
Most of the year it is pale green, and the red ones come later in the year.
It can make its own orange and red colours, called carotenoids, which very few animals can do.
Most asked questions about Red spider mite
?Is a red spider mite a spider?
No. It is a mite. Mites are small cousins of spiders and also have eight legs.
?What does a red spider mite eat?
It sucks juice from the leaves of many plants, like vegetables, strawberries and roses.
?Can red spider mites hurt people?
No. They only harm plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tetranychus urticae
- Group
- Scorpions, ticks and friends
- Family
- Tetranychidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Trombidiformes > Tetranychidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Two-spotted spider mite
Where the facts come from
- Tetranychus urticae (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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