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Submit an article to Indago - a peer reviewed journal
Submit an article to Indago - a peer reviewed journal
Submit an article to Indago - a peer reviewed journal
Author

Lizel Hugo-Coetzee

Browsing

Almost all terrestrial animals have some type of claw. Vertebrates like mammals, reptiles and birds have claws made from a protein called keratin, while invertebrates for example insects, spiders and mites have claw-like structures made from a combination of chitin, calcium carbonate and sclerotin. A typical claw is a curved, strong, often hard appendage at the end of a limb. Nails in humans are also made of keratin, but don’t end in a sharp or curved point. Claws have various functions such as walking, climbing, digging, catching and self-defense. Anyone who owned a cat can confirm their claws are very efficient for defense!

In the current era of the internet, social media and online databases together with the development of digital photography, more and more new species and new regional records are discovered by the general public. Plant and animal enthusiasts and photographers are increasingly posting images on platforms such as Flickr, Instagram, iNaturalist, Facebook and Twitter.

Figure 1. Beetle (family: Passalidae) with three different species of mites (indicated by A, B, C) attached. (See Ermilov & Frolov 2019b.)

Mites may be found worldwide in almost any habitat imagined, from arctic tundra to hot deserts, from marine habitats to forests. Collectively, they also eat an extraordinarily wide variety of food.  However, when the habitat becomes too crowded, or the specific food source has run out, they have to disperse to the next optimal space. Sometimes it is as easy as walking to the next spot, but sometimes the next food source is quite a distance away, and being so small and wingless, walking is just impractical.