this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2024
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What Is This Bug?

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Tiniest little bug. I only saw 4 legs, but it probably has more. Adding more pics in the comments, can only upload one. Phone wouldn't really focus on it.

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[–] Pronell 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

My wife is a vet tech, there's a chance that's a very tiny tick. But it is also really hard to tell from that photo.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Depending on the area OP is, that really looks like a tick.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I agree with this, could also be tick larva (really young ticks, they go through a multihost lifecycle). If you're finding a bunch of those extra tiny ones, I suspect you walked through a nest and picked them up (good news is I believe that nymphs are less likely to carry any diseases (key term is less)). Good luck, those are a pain to spot, I'd spend a bunch of time checking everyone over throughly, the diseases that ticks can cary are no joke (then be extra alert for a while to make sure no weird rashes show up, such as the traditional lyme disease bullseye).

A site that provides some useful info: https://www.tickcheck.com/info/tick-identification

[–] nieminen 1 points 3 months ago

Thanks!

I think the consensus is tick larva or nymph. Must have found a nest.

[–] nieminen 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Yeah I don't think they're ticks. But they could be. I've found like 4 more on me just now. From googling, I suspect they MIGHT be bird mites....

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Deleted my previous comment as it was cursed somehow and inserted constant spaces....

The middle one here looks a lot like a tick to me, likely in the nymph phase; also a quick search for 'bird mite' also included a good number of images of ticks as well (I had included a screenshot with some circled). You might be able to send them to your local agriculture department to be formally identified if you wanted to.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 3 months ago

I'm guessing either bird mites or predatory mites

[–] Donjuanme 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I'll guarantee you it has more than 4 legs for at least part of its life cycle. (Entomologists will get it)

What part of the country are you living? Could be any number of small parasites (chigger, tick, bed bug) or it could be a larvel form of something less parasitic.

Can guarantee it's invertebrate, unless it's a plant spore, but they don't often have legs

[–] nieminen 3 points 3 months ago

In the Kentucky/Indiana area.

Pretty sure it's not a chigger, I've never run into those here. Did some googling, from what I'm able to see, I don't think it's a bed bug either. Doesn't seem to match any phase.

Perhaps they're tiny ticks. Hope not. I posted more pics to another comment thread, lmk if those help.

[–] nieminen 3 points 3 months ago

Ugh, did some Google searches again. Larval or nymph phase ticks look like that might be it. I found like 4 of these crawling on me just a few minutes ago.

Thanks, hopefully I'll not see any more.

[–] nieminen 1 points 3 months ago