Well recently I saw what seemed like the same kind of mite again, only in a new context. I collected a bunch of fruit flies and quickly steamed them then I froze them. I gave some of this horrible paste to my camponotus discolor ants a few days ago and later noticed live mites on the dead fruit flies. I was little horrified, but I've been coming to suspect something about these mites.
I think they only eat dead insects. And they live with the ants, helping to break down all the leftovers.
I had taken some video of my ants eating the fruit flies and in the video to my horror I saw a mite almost get on one ant... only to jump off. In fact, they seemed to disperse when the ants would trouble the flies.
I went over the whole colony with the macro lense and didn't see any mites in the nest. Only a few on dead insects.
I also check the live flies in the culture that the meal came from.
Long and short some mites probably aren't harmful.
I also think that when some keepers THINK their colony was "killed by mites" the real culprit may have been too much humidity, other diseases, incomplete diets or really anything that might weaken the ants.
So, when I've read mite horror stories keepers notice mites on their ants in large numbers, and soon the whole colony is dead. But the mites might just be taking advantage of ants that are already dying.
There is no way I'd notice these mites without using the ultra macro lens. If you can see mites with your naked eye it must be VERY bad.
I'm going to try to catch some and put them under my microscope.
