It hides in moss and lichen

When studying moss and lichen under the microscope, you will discover that in addition to the beautiful pictures it produces, a lot of animal life crawls around in it. If you walk through nature and see the many types of moss and lichen, you actually do not realize that. This is perhaps due to the fact that the animals are hardly visible to the naked eye.

In the video you can see how a miniscule mite is laying its eggs between the not yet opened leaves of a moss. This is the Acari oribatida mite. The laying tube or drill for the eggs (ovipositor) at the bottom of the abdomen is clearly visible in action.

Mites (Acari) are small arthropods. These are invertebrates whose bodies and legs are made up of separate parts connected to each other. There are approximately 55,000 species worldwide. They have successfully adapted to a wide range of habitats from the sea and freshwater to all terrestrial habitats. Oribatida, also known as moss mites, is a suborder of mites, in the order Sarcoptiformes within the superorder Acariformes. Oribatids belong to the soil fauna, being actively involved in the decomposition of organic matter, nutrient cycles and soil formation.