When a mite is attacked by a predator, the first
response is usually flight, but if the mite is too slow it will stop moving and
tuck the legs under the bodybody:
the idiosoma of mites.
. In Uropodoidea, many species are heavily
armored and slow-moving mites that cannot flee rapidly. Some of these
mites have recesses in their cuticle into which their legs can be withdrawn
called pedofossaepedofossa:
(pl. pedofossae) (= fossae pedales, fovae pedales) recesses into which the legs can be withdrawn.
('leg ditches') or fovae pedalesfova pedales:
(pl. = fovae pedales) a pedofossa, a pit in the cuticle into which the legs can be withdrawn in some Mesostigmata, especially Uropodidae.
.
Author: David E. Walter
Content last updated Sept. 2006, unless indicated otherwise
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