He self identifies as a cherry tomato. Be gentle.

Nearly all spiders are good guys; mostly because they are the favorite food for nesting wasps; and wasps are always good guys.

so that is not a spider mite?

Johnmerr, speaking of wasps, there is a wasp nest right in the upper corner of the window on the balcony, my trees are all there. Is it bad to have it there? What do I do? Will they swarm and attack me? They built it couple of weeks ago.

September 2017 · More Info

September 2017 · More Info

They are paper wasps; and they rarely sting humans; but the nest will get bigger every year, if you leave it there. When they lay their eggs, each one of those cells will get a spider or other insect that has been stung to immobilize it before sealing the egg inside; that gives the baby of the newly hatched egg something to eat. I would leave it until Winter when there are no adults and then remove it; because I don't much like them....look too much like a bee. Luckily for me we have few of those; and many more of the tiny wasps that control things like scale; but never sting humans. My favorites are the Brachonids; but there are others that control white flies and other critters.

Thank you! I have seen the tiny wasps on my trees too, but I think they are faster, never stay still for too long. Did not get any pics of the tiny wasps this season.

Since mite asked about looks big - as far as mites go - and red it is probably a beneficial predator mite. The plant sucking ones are tiny specks that occur in large numbers grouped all together (once an infestation gets big enough).

To go back to your spider - to me it looks like a citrus red mite. That's if your picture is a real close-up and the creature is tiny. How big is it?

Citrus red mites vary in shape. The male is more like a true spider, as shown on the left here:

As for 'self-identifying cherry tomatoes' - the ones I grow don't talk and don't have legs!!!

Mother Nature doesnt have so many rules, really.

Usually called Whirligig Mite because their legs all radiate out from their body from one point and they move around in a random spinning fashion until they spot prey. They're known to be predatory mites so a good insect.

Thumbs up for the great, clear photo you captured. It's really hard to distinguish the different larger red mites but the whirligig mites are THE mites I would want most on my plant!

These are the sites I like to use for hard to identify insects like these spider mites :)

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1330438

^ Site hosted by Iowa State University's department of Entomology. Run completely by volunteers but can't qualify for expert professional advice. I find they do a good job sorting through insects by tiniest subtle features. Great resource if you have a clue of the insect's possible name beforehand

https://www.whatsthatbug.com/2016/01/09/whirligig-mite/

^ Site's goal is bug identification and appreciation (disapproves of extermination). They can be emailed with a photo and description of what you saw and where. They get back to you pretty quickly with the closest identification they can find of the unknown insect. Great to combo with BugGuide.net

I was just going to suggest a insect ID website. Thanks for listing those!

Last year I finally got around to figuring out what the 'giant wasps' are - they look like really big yellowjackets. Turns out they are cicada killers. Confirmed that when I saw one carrying a cicada into a hole in the ground.

Yeah one time I had a huge wasp enter my house twice!! I locked myself and my pets in my room since I couldn't tell if it was an aggressive wasp. Finally after I gave up locking them all up in my room, my cat hunted it down, threw a nicely aimed swipe at the wasp and killed it. She's too fierce for her own good.

Found out later it was a non-aggressive wasp that looks for spiders as their main food source. :(