What Do Spider Mites Look Like?
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
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.
- Spider mites are 1/50 of an inch--about the size of a flea.
- In the winter, females can turn reddish-orange and be mistaken for other species of mites.
Habitat
Spider mites spend their entire lives under leaves. They do best in hot, dry, dusty conditions.
References
Writer Bio
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.
