Antony Corthion
Mighty Mites
Biology 131
Dr. Kuykindoll
Definitions
1. Mite-any of numerous small acarid arachnids that often infest animals, plants, and stored foods and include important disease vectors.
2. Epiphyte- a plant that derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and grows usually on another plant.
3. Evolution- a theory that the differences between modern plants and animals are because of changes that happened by a natural process over a very long time.
4. Follicles- a tiny hole in the skin from which a hair grows.
5. Engender- to be the source or cause of (something).
6. Systematist- a classifying scientist.
7. Idiosyncrasy- an unusual part or feature of something.
8. Microns- a unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter—called also micrometer.
9. Niche- an environment that has all the things that a particular plant or animal needs in order to live.
10. Pathogens- a specific causative agent (as a bacterium or virus) of disease.
There are many microscopic species on earth that are called mites Several years ago a scientist made a bet about face mites, animals that live in hair follicles. Currently two species of face mites are known; at least one of them appear to be present on all adult humans. Their bet was that even a modest sampling of adults would turn up more species of these mites, ones that are totally new to science. Mites also live in dust, where they have found unwelcome fame by eating the bits of dead skin that trail behind us everyplace we go. Some of the real monsters of the mite world live in soil, where one can find predatory mites armed with a medieval arsenal of mouthparts. All of this is to say that if one can imagine a habitat, however narrow, mites are there, even if that habitat is hard to reach on legs just microns long and a tenth the thickness of a human hair.
Yet the marvels of mite transport pale in comparison with the idiosyncrasies of mite reproduction. The habitats that offer mites the most advantages are bodies, whether of mammals, birds, insects, or any other creature larger than a mite. Mites that live on bodies are specially adapted to hold fast to their host, even when it runs, swims, or flies. Most bird species host more than one specialized mite found nowhere else. One species of parakeet has 25 different species of mites living on its body and in its feathers, each in a different microhabitat. After some swabbing, poking, and DNA sequencing, the scientists found mites on every adult they sampled, including one species new to science that seems to live mainly on people of Asian descent. Think about it a mite that probably lives on millions of humans, maybe even billions, and most humans don’t even know they exist.
Mites Evolve so Homosapiens will to.
Mites are a microscopic organism that occupy many environments. Mites are so small that trillions could live on a single pebble. Mites have legs that are smaller than a micron. They live in all sorts of places in human environments, including rugs, curtains, couches, and bedding. Mites also live on birds, rabbits, dogs, kangaroo’s and almost all other animals. Mites eat many things such as dead human skin, fluids from rabbit ears, and worm poop. Mites die after they fill up with feces because they don’t have an anus. I believe the evolution of mites can help us understand the evolution of human beings. This is because mites have evolved into many species, and natural selection can help show how they all came from one ancestor.
To reproduce mother mites hide in a suitable environment. They lay relatively large mite shaped eggs. After mites hatch they molt, which means they come out of their hard shells because they grew a little bit bigger. After leaving there molts behind they grow another hard outside to protect themselves.
There are many species of mites. This is because of the mites’ ability to evolve to survive in its environment. Some mites have evolved to have supersize
