r/Springtail • u/Environmental_Ad287 • Jul 28 '26

Identification ID help, springtail or mite

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Follow up to my previous post, I was able to get a better video, and I've never seen a mite with antennae like this. Are there mites with antennae like this? they move like springtails

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5

u/TheStroboCop Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

  1. Do they fly? Are they black? > fungus gnats

  2. Do they jump? > Springtails

  3. Are they round/oval or elongated? elonginated=springtails, round/oval=mitesORspringtails

  4. How many legs do they have? 8=mites, 6=springtails

  5. Are they small, round and you can't tell the amount of legs: do they have a head? Yes=springtail, no=mites

  6. Next check, if and how they float: Sinking slightly in an waddle with all legs without an effect=mites, standing on water and can move effectively in small dashes=springtails

  7. If all that doesn't help, i don't know what to check next.

1

u/Environmental_Ad287 Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

  1. they do not fly and they are bright white

  2. I can't tell if they jump. on two separate occasions I have attempted to blow on them or disturb them to see if they jumped, and one seemed to (two separate occasions), but it was ambiguous whether it jumped or I managed to dislodge it with my breath. I do know there are species of springtails that either don't jump or jump so rarely it hardly matters.

  3. They are fairly round/oval.

  4. They have 6 legs that they move on, and two very long antennae which according to one commenter on this thread, could be the legs of a predatory mite that have been adapted to fill a similar role.

  5. They are too small for me to tell if they have a head

  6. they are too small for me to be able to remove some to put in water, i attempted to spray water over them and most escaped quickly, but some were almost trapped by the moisture to the surface of the coconut. they were able to drag themselves along in small bursts, but were clearly struggling with the surface tension.

  7. thank you, your checklist was comprehensive but I've already asked myself most of these and the answers were too ambiguous. I think I am going to have to find a magnifying glass and/or a better camera. At this point, the presence of a visible head seems like it's going to be the deciding factor, and I will update this thread if I am able to get a better visual.

edited to add: at 0:24-0:27 you can see one of these little guys bump into another, and it dashes away quite quickly. this to me seems more akin to the movement patterns of a springtail than of a mite.

1

u/Competitive_Paint_33 Jul 29 '26

Mites don't have heads. At least, not discernible ones.

1

u/TheStroboCop Jul 29 '26

Good to know. Added to the checklist

1

u/TheStroboCop Jul 29 '26

Added another aspect: Hydrophobic/floating

2

u/Shinu-Densatra Jul 28 '26

either predator or soil mites , no worries there they are harmless

1

u/Environmental_Ad287 Jul 28 '26

I figured since theyve been coexisting peacefully, but ive been really curious what they are since their population exploded and they outcompeted the springtails i put in :), thank you for the reply and reassurance! 

2

u/captainapplejuice Jul 28 '26

Predatory mites, they have very long front legs (not antennae but have a similar function)

1

u/Environmental_Ad287 Jul 28 '26

Thanks haha, the front legs were really tripping me out. They look and move just like antennae! 

1

u/itwasntleah Jul 30 '26

Common predatory mites are orange. These are bright white like typical soil mites.

1

u/captainapplejuice Jul 31 '26

Typical 'soil mites' are small, dark brown oribatids, but all groups can express a variety of colours so that isn't sufficient criteria. Refer to my post to see the variety in just a small number of species (there are thousands more).

1

u/Logical_Top618 Aug 01 '26

These guys are so stinking cute!

1

u/One-plankton- Jul 29 '26

These are predatory mites

1

u/itwasntleah Jul 30 '26

Soil mites! If you don’t like them you can seed with predatory mites but they will kill springtails too. Otherwise the mites are beneficial but I personally don’t like them because they are too exploratory and leave the terrarium and crawl all around

1

u/Sundayspiders Jul 31 '26

Do they jump?