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   kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 16-Jan-2024 04:56:43 JST kho

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   🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
   
   Oribatid mites are a suborder of mites (Acari) found around the world; there are about 9.000 species described. Oribatids are considered mesofauna, due to their body size of 0.1 to 2 mm. Most species feed on fungi or dead plant material and detritus (saprophages). A few are necro-/coprophageous) and some (opportunistic) predators.
   
   Most adult oribatid mites are brown, but species range in color from nearly white, to yellow, to reddish-brown, to almost black. Males and females look very similar in most species, but the young mites rarely look like the adult mites. The females lay eggs and when the eggs hatch, the young mites (larvae) grow through three more stages before becoming adults. At each stage, they shed their outer body covering, called the exoskeleton. The external skeleton that supports and protects an animal’s body, in other words, the animals’ outer body covering. In can be very hard in oribatid mites as their bodies get bigger. Some oribatid mites carry this old exoskeleton around on their backs as a form of camouflage to protect them from predator mites.
   
   Oribatid mites occur from the tropics to the Antarctic in almost all terrestrial habitats and have even colonized the marine littoral, bogs and fresh waters. Numerous species are adapted to life on tree trunks, bark and lichens on trees.
   
   Many of the families have the ability to tuck their legs underneath their protective armour, called ptychoidy. This renders them immune from most predation, apart from being eating wholesale. The ability earned them the common name of box mites- like a closing box.