Red velvet mite (Dinothrombium sp.)

[Vishal Bhave]

Mostly seen in Monsoon (if i am right).

Size: 12 mm
After the summer monsoon rains start, it is pretty velvety red mites seen across the lands.
In Marathi called as "मृग किडा" (Mruga kida) as seen in "मृग नक्षत्र"

Size: 18 mm

Details
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 6.1 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

[Bibhav Behera]

A very beautiful insect. In Oriya they are called 'Sadhaba Bahu Poka'.

I remember playing with these insects as a kid. Their numbers seem to have dropped radically in recent years. Don't see them as frequently as I used to as a kid.
The composition is nice. A slightly higher shutter speed would have been nice.
Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Vishal,
Thanks for posting this. It has brought back tons of memories. As Bibhav has mentioned, I too used to play with these when I was a kid. I don't remember having seen them since a long long time.

I like the composition. A higher shutter speed and narrow aperture would have been good. Which camera were you using? Look forward to more images of this species if you have. Where was this clicked?

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Vikram Gupchup]

Nice to see the Velvet Mite here. The rock in the background is enhancing the subject nicely. I think a wider composition with the mite offset , would also work here.

Used to see these regularly just after the first rains in hills around Pune.

Thanks for sharing this.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Nice. A little more sharpness would have been lovely. Also agree with Vikram's suggestions. Thanks for sharing.
P.S. They're arachnids, not insects.

[Akshay Kumar Manjunath]

Hi Vishal,

I am seeing this for the first time, nice Capture

I have never come across this in western ghats of Karnataka.

Is the distrubution limited to other part of India.