What is this microscopic insect? Bedbug?

Request help to identify insects or other creatures. Please post the location that the insect you want to identify came from, this will help greatly in species determination.
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Parisix
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What is this microscopic insect? Bedbug?

Post by Parisix »

Hello everyone,
So I live in Spain (in Madrid precisely) and we've all of a sudden found a plague in our appartment. We first thought that it might be bedbugs, because we found it in the sofa, but looking at it more closely, it doesn't look like the species that is supposed to be associated to bedbugs (Cimex lectularius).
Plus we found a lot of them in the space between the inner and outer window, and they really seem to like my hair (which from what I've understood, isn't usually the case in bedbugs).
They are so little it's almost impossible to see them if you don't feel them in your skin or watch really closely, so it was really hard taking good picture of them. I've made a picture of one of them over my watch so that you can have an idea of the size of it.
Thank you in advance!
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Chuck
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Re: What is this microscopic insect? Bedbug?

Post by Chuck »

Can't tell from the top two photos, but the bottom look like baby jumping spiders.
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livingplanet3
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Re: What is this microscopic insect? Bedbug?

Post by livingplanet3 »

Parisix wrote: Tue Jun 18, 2024 9:00 pm Hello everyone,
So I live in Spain (in Madrid precisely) and we've all of a sudden found a plague in our appartment. We first thought that it might be bedbugs, because we found it in the sofa, but looking at it more closely, it doesn't look like the species that is supposed to be associated to bedbugs (Cimex lectularius).
Plus we found a lot of them in the space between the inner and outer window, and they really seem to like my hair (which from what I've understood, isn't usually the case in bedbugs).
They are so little it's almost impossible to see them if you don't feel them in your skin or watch really closely, so it was really hard taking good picture of them. I've made a picture of one of them over my watch so that you can have an idea of the size of it.
Thank you in advance!...
They certainly appear to be mites of the genus Ornithonyssus, most of which are parasites of birds, although some species are associated with rats -

https://bugguide.net/node/view/96991/bgimage

Most likely, they are coming from bird nests that have been built close your windows. I recall that there have been some posts about these mites to this forum, in times past.
Parisix
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Re: What is this microscopic insect? Bedbug?

Post by Parisix »

livingplanet3 wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 1:22 am
They certainly appear to be mites of the genus Ornithonyssus, most of which are parasites of birds, although some species are associated with rats -

https://bugguide.net/node/view/96991/bgimage

Most likely, they are coming from bird nests that have been built close your windows. I recall that there have been some posts about these mites to this forum, in times past.
Thank you so much! They definitely are those! We do have a bird's nest below the air conditioner output, but I never thought that if they had parasites they could go up to the window. We'll see what we can do to prevent these at least to enter the house...
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