Researchers at the Butantan Institute, in São Paulo, discovered a spider measuring just a few millimeters that is the target of a parasitic mite.
The discovery work was published in the International Journal of Acarology.
The spider had a kind of “necklace”, which were actually mite larvae that were sucking fluids.
The new species was named Araneothrombium brasiliensis. The genus was first described in Costa Rica in 2017. The study suggests that the mites may be present in tropical regions.
“For this group of mites, it is not uncommon to know many parasitic species only through their larvae, since in adulthood they become free-living predators, living in the soil and feeding on small insects and even other mites, which makes finding them very difficult,” said the first to observe the discovery, Ricardo Bassini-Silva, according to Fapesp.
The spiders that were parasitized were collected in the municipality of Pinheiral, in Rio de Janeiro. They were close to caves and caves.
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According to research, mites suck fluids in the region between the eyes, mouth and abdomen.
