I have been searching all over the Web to try and figure out what those tiny black shiny things that look a lot like eggs on my parsley are, but I have absolutely no luck. I think that is because these are so minute that people usually don't realize that they are there. They are in fact microscopic.

I was looking for aphids on the parsley using a magnifier after discovering that the nearby gardenia has aphids when I accidentally discovered these strange creatures. They are oval shaped, very shiny and very black. At first, I found one that was about half a millimeter long, and just as I was wondering what it might be, I noticed two more on a nearby leaf on the same stem. These ones are about half the size of the first one, you can really barely see them with the naked eye. As I kept checking out my plant, I found an aphid, and as I was admiring it through the magnifier, I noticed yet two more of these little black things, but this time, they are so small that you can absolutely not see them with the naked eye. I tried looking at them without the magnifier and could not see them at all (I have near perfect sight).

So, these mystery creatures are on a stem in particular and so far, I didn't find any on other stems. They are not in clusters like most eggs, but they are not far from each other. They really look like eggs, but the variety in size suggests to me that they are not. Usually, eggs are all about the same size, while in this case, some are three times the size of others. They don't respond to physical stimulation. The ones I found are all on the top side of the leaves, a few are on the edges.

I tried to take pictures but I have a really old camera and these black thingies are so tiny that I can't get a good shot of them. But even with the magnifier, I can't see any more than what I have described above.

They make me think of tics. Any idea what they might be?