Chigger (Harvest Mite)

Grassy areas, forests, gardens, and damp areas with high vegetation.

Larvae feed on skin cells and lymph fluid of host animals (including humans); adults feed on plant matter and other insects.

Larvae wait on vegetation to crawl onto a host, where they inject digestive enzymes into the skin to dissolve tissue, creating a hardened tube called a stylostome. They do not burrow under the skin.

Causes intense itching and red welts. In some regions, they can transmit scrub typhus, but they are primarily a nuisance in North America. They serve as food for larger arthropods in the ecosystem.