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I was just looking at some mouldy ginger found in the fridge under the microscope and was horrified/delighted to find (what looked to be) mites growing in it. I have searched the web and can only find references to red spider mites which these are certainly not. They were clear white and under 40x zoom about less than a mm across - does anyone know what they could be? Furthermore, what are they feeding on (ginger root is only ~15% carbohydrates - is that enough?) and has a minimal (~1%) amount of protein.

Here is a picture (sorry for the quality but the white thing looks to be a mite).mite

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    $\begingroup$ LOL "horrified/delighted to find..." $\endgroup$
    – biogirl
    Jan 26, 2014 at 13:53
  • $\begingroup$ Pictures? Or, lacking that, can you tell how many body segments they have? $\endgroup$
    – Oreotrephes
    Jan 26, 2014 at 14:44
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    $\begingroup$ @Oreotrephes Have fished piece of ginger out of bin and added pic $\endgroup$
    – user5516
    Jan 26, 2014 at 16:04
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    $\begingroup$ Saw a bbc program the other day which talked about mites on cheese, they are (deliberately) all over the rind of some cheeses! I'll try to find it, might (or mite) inspire you to look at other things in your fridge too! $\endgroup$
    – rg255
    Jan 27, 2014 at 0:33

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Does this look like the same bug to you ?

bulb mite.

This one is a bulb mite, Rhizoglyphus robini, see here.

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    $\begingroup$ Yes - I think that's it! I'ts amazing how you can be both fascinated and disgusted at once ;) (It does seem to be harmless though nonetheless) $\endgroup$
    – user5516
    Jan 27, 2014 at 22:27
  • $\begingroup$ I share your feelings :-) $\endgroup$
    – Barbara
    Jan 27, 2014 at 22:36
  • $\begingroup$ This is very interesting. We think about microbes (micrometer) and insects (centimeter) as main plant pathogens, but know very few about what fills the gap between these 2 different sizes. At least I learned a lot about medical microbiology, and I know a few plant pathogens as well, but I know nothing about mites. :-) $\endgroup$
    – inf3rno
    Aug 3, 2015 at 1:19

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