Female of the red form of the spider mite Tetranychus urticae with two silk threads. The substratum is a bean leaf. With thanks to Guillaume who provided the mites and striking informations about their biology and morphology.Scale : mite body length ~0.5 mmTechnical settings : - focus stack of 39 images- microscope objective (Nikon achromatic 10x 160/0.25) on bellow (230 mm extension)
2011-09-28 Lower Austria, district Neunkirchen (1525 msm Quadrant 8261/3).German name: Alpine GebirgsschreckeIt looks like if the female lost its left hind-leg.Sub-divided by some zoologists into several distinct species which one could only distinguish by dissection of genitalia, of those three are also common in Austria (namely, besides M. alpina, M. carinthica, M. irena and M. formosanta).No attempt at making this distinction made, which is why I stick to the hypernym of M. alpina.