A red mite, so-called for its bright red-orange color, is widespread throughout the globe. It lives in the soil, as well as among plants.
Description
These creatures, unusual in their coloration, are really striking representatives of the velvet tick family. Outwardly, they are more like spiders, so they are often confused with them.
Adults live in the land. Their rather large oval red body has a length of 1 to 2 mm and is covered with many small hairs. The limbs are seven-segmented tarsi, on which 2 claws are located. If any danger occurs, the tick compresses them under itself, then, if the danger has passed, it continues on its way.
A velvet red-mite (an earthen mite, as it is also called) is a predator that sometimes feeds on plant foods. But the main food for adults are various insects.
These arachnids come from India, where during the monsoon period they spread in very large numbers, for which they were called among the local population - rain mites.
Main habitats
Today, the red mite lives in almost all corners of the globe. Especially a lot of them are observed in the tropics and subtropics. Arthropods themselves live in the soil, and the larvae parasitize on vertebrates. In countries with a temperate climate, only one generation of ticks can develop per year (for example, in the tropics there can be up to five). The development cycle occurs strictly seasonally. To lay eggs, the tick migrates to the soil to a depth of 10 cm.
Development cycle
During the breeding season, a velvet mite-red beetle lays 30-50 eggs per day in the soil, which for all time is approximately 400 to 900 pieces. After embryonic molting, the larva is released from the egg. After a week, she is able to eat on her own. Initially, the hemolymph of insects and arachnids serves as food for her.
Then, after passing through the next stage of dormancy (pupa-shaped), the larva turns into a deutrophy. This is the same predator as an adult red-mite tick. The greatest number of them is observed in July – August.
After a certain time, another dormancy stage sets in, after which adult individuals appear.
Larvae
Mostly parasitic larvae of the red tick on animals. Their owners are most often rodents, hedgehogs, predators and some domestic animals, such as sheep, horses, goats, etc. Sometimes they attack a person. Most of the larvae parasitize on the skin, less often in the nasal cavity. Having clung to the host’s body, they disrupt the stratum corneum of the epidermis, plunge into the skin and feed on interstitial fluid for several days, less often blood.
Larvae of the red tick mite attack their victim directly from the surface of the soil or plants. Such an attack occurs around the clock (if there is sufficient humidity), stopping briefly only in the hot midday hours.
The nutrition period can be from 2 to 7 days. Well-fed larvae leave the host, falling to the soil, where they continue their development cycle. One animal can have them on itself up to 11, 000 pieces, of which several dozen fall out every day. The larva for the entire period of feeding increases in size by more than 15 times.
Use in traditional medicine
The hemolymph of the red mite has a rather powerful fungicidal effect. In this regard, it is widely used in folk medicine of the inhabitants of India. It is used for the prevention of paralysis, as well as an aphrodisiac: it is believed that oil obtained from the reddish enhances sexual desire. In modern medicine, this issue is still under consideration. Scientists are only eyeing these arthropods as a potential source of immunomodulators.
What danger is a red tick
Photos of these creations are pretty cute, and looking at them, it's hard to even imagine what danger ticks pose for those who are chosen as an object for food. Among all their relatives, they are the only ones whose larvae are carriers of a rather dangerous disease - Tsutsugamushi fever. This infection is especially widespread in Japan, Korea and China. When a person becomes infected, a fever rises, a rash appears, and the spleen increases. In advanced cases, serious complications can occur leading to death.
In Russia, small foci of infection exist only in some areas of the Far East. Most of all, the red mite is known in our country as a causative agent of dermatitis. Attacking a person, he is able to cause a disease such as gooseberry fever. At the site of a tick bite, a small spot of red color first forms, on which an abscess appears in a day, and after three days a barely noticeable vesicle. This place is very itchy, especially at night. After 5-8 days, the bubble resolves. After it remains a dark pigment stain that lasts for two weeks. It continues to scratch quite a lot, which can lead to re-infection.
Arthropods such as the reddish mite are dangerous primarily for children playing often in the grass, where the likelihood of parasite attacks is high. Most often this happens in rural areas, but recently, more and more cases of tick attacks on humans have been recorded in large cities.
In urban conditions, favorite places for reds are squares, gardens, any green areas. There at 1 dm 2 there can be several hundred individuals.
Methods of treatment and prevention of bites
Every year, a fairly large number of people encounter the bites of reddish ticks. Due to their small size, they are difficult to notice on the body, and besides, the larvae can hide in places where the clothes fit snugly on the skin. It should be remembered that ticks are carriers of various infectious diseases, including deadly ones. Therefore, their bites can not be ignored.
The wound should be kept clean by rinsing in the morning and evening with water. In order to reduce itching, you can use antiseptic agents or lotions with a decoction of celandine and chamomile. To prepare it, 10 grams of a mixture of dried herbs are boiled in a glass of boiling water, allowed to infuse for two hours, and then filtered. Infusion of herbs can be mixed with baby cream and lubricate the wound surface with the ointment up to four times a day.
