Stats

Lifespan

A few weeks

Size

Tiny

Diet

Herbivore

Activity

Cathemeral

Social

Colony

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

Worldwide

Movement

Walking

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Burrowing

Status

Rare

About

This microscopic arachnid lives inside the fuzzy galls on grape leaves. It uses its two pairs of legs to tunnel through plant tissue to feed on cell sap.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg sac

   A silk-wrapped egg sac shelters a clutch of eggs until the young are ready to emerge.
2. 2.
   juvenile

   A spiderling emerges from the egg sac already in miniature adult form and starts catching prey almost immediately.
3. 3.
   subadult

   A near-adult arachnid molts through several instars, growing larger and developing mature markings.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown after its final molt.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Arachnida

Order

Sarcoptiformes

Family

Eriophyidae

Genus

Colomerus

Species

Colomerus vitis