What Do Spider Mites Look Like?

By Vern Hee ; Updated September 21, 2017

Spider mites like to be on the underside of leaves.

Image by Fotolia.com, courtesy of Emmanuel Bergère

To the naked eye, spider mites appear as little white dots under a leaf or on a stem. Adult spider mites have two red eyes, hairy bodies and eight legs. In the winter, the adult females can turn red.

Size

Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Tony Austin

Spider mites are 1/50 of an inch--about the size of a flea. Heavily infested plants look like they are speckled with brown dots.

Spider Mite Traits

Spider mites are related to arachnids, and they are not insects. They have four pairs of legs like spiders, no antennas and have oval bodies.

Twospotted Spider Mite

This warm-season mite, whether an adult or nymph, is white with two greenish spots. In the winter, females can turn reddish-orange and be mistaken for other species of mites.

Spruce Spider Mite

This cool-season mite spends most of its time in the egg stage, attached to the host plant.

Habitat

Spider mites spend their entire lives under leaves. They do best in hot, dry, dusty conditions.

References

Ohio State University

About the Author

Vern Hee started writing professionally in 2009. He works as a reporter for the "Pahrump Valley Times." Hee taught elementary school for eight years and worked in the landscape construction field for 20 years. Hee holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California Berkeley and is a veteran of the United States Navy.