Skip to main content

#48: House Dust Mites

Litinsects #48: 
Month of Mites, Part 4

One of the most well-known mite species, probably because they live so close to us, is the house dust mite. Just a warning, this one’s super interesting but slightly gross...
 
© Gilles San Martin
  • Dust mites are microscopically small, 0.2-0.3 mm in size, and have a COSMOPOLITAN distribution. They are found pretty much everywhere humans live
  • Dust is made up of dead human skin cells and also contains hair, dirt, mold spores, pollen, and other microscopic debris. Dust mites feed primarily on dead skin but don’t worry, they DON‘T BITE humans
  • As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, our mattresses, pillows, carpets, and upholstered furniture are FULL of both living and dead dust mites. Since they love warmth, darkness, and humidity and because we shed plenty of dead skin cells while we sleep, our beds are pretty much the ideal place for them to live!
  • Dust mites are well known because they are associated with allergies in about 1-2% of the world population. Humans are not actually allergic to the living mites though, it’s ENZYMES in their “DEBRIS” (non-euphemistically: poop) that causes allergies. When the microscopic droppings (0.01-0.04 mm in size!) in dust become airborne and are inhaled it can cause inflammation in the airways and/or trigger asthma-like symptoms in people
  • What’s the deal with these allergy-causing enzymes? Dust mite poop actually contains mainly UNDIGESTED FOOD particles along with digestive enzymes that work to continue to digest the food in the feces outside of the body... this way mites can re-eat their excrement later! (I’m very sorry to you all for that image but I had to mention it)
I will end on a positive note, by debunking a “fact” you might have heard floating around the internet: the weight of a mattress doubles after 10 years due to a build-up of dead mites and their droppings. Although, yes, they probably do add a bit of weight over the years, there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE for that drastic an accumulation! Still... you’ve technically never had your bed just to yourself 🛌
 
Fun fact: Traces of dust mites were found on the MIR space station in the late 1990s!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#13: Insect Legs

Litinsects #13: Insect Legs Insect legs can be as diverse as the animals themselves. Some are long and slender like a crane fly’s, some are short and hefty like a mole cricket’s. But what all insects share is the number and layout of those legs. Hexapods have 6 LEGS, a pair each of fore, mid, and hind legs that are made up of the same basic units. Starting closest to the body, they are:  (1) the coxa, which attaches the leg to the thorax  (2) the trochanter (3) the femur, which is oft en the thickest segment  (4) the tibia, often covered in tiny hairs (5) the tarsus, which contains 5 “pseudo-segments”  (6) the pretarsal claws, of which most insects have 2 on each leg The basic units of the leg always occur in this order but may be reduced or highly modified in some species to fit certain tasks such as running, digging, swimming, grasping, or jumping. This photo sums it up perfectly: from < https://wiki.bugwood.org/File:Insect...
Post a Comment
Read more

WELCOME: Social Distancing Entomology Course

All week I’ve been seeing videos and posts of the creative stuff people have been doing while social distancing, all the while thinking, what could I contribute to all the people sitting at home on social media all day?? Well this morning it hit me. I will do what I do best! And that is... drop some nerd knowledge on you all 🤓 Welcome to my social distancing ENTOMOLOGY COURSE!  Every day I will post an insect photo, most of which I’ve taken through my microscope, and explain about the insect group or the feature pictured. My hope is that you might learn something new about insects and maybe, just mayyyyybe, be a bit more fascinated and a bit less grossed out by the most diverse and arguably most successful group of animals to ever live... thanks for reading, stay tuned 🦋 🦟 🦗 🐞 🐜 🐛
Post a Comment
Read more