An insect larva?


Yes. When I first saw the image below I almost fell out of my chair. Up until then I thought that these plugs were caused by some sort of fungal infection. I was wrong:

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This is clearly a larval form emerging from a plug.

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Here’s another (the red fibres are from clothing).

And they mature to become:

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This one was obviously wrapped in filament.

And eventually:

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You’ll understand this was a difficult shot to focus with a handheld USB microscope.

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Four pairs of legs means it’s an adult mite, three means it’s a larva.

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This was taken carefully from my anus after a tickle.

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Scraped from my cheek after a tickle moments after applying moisturiser.


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Demodex folliculorum in it’s natural habitat (head down, tail up).

Notice the fine translucent filaments in this picture? We’ll come to those later.
Read on to continue the story...