While picking your bouquets, observe how well the Crab Spider camouflages itself on your daisies, or how the Green Lynx Spider seems to become one with the leaves. Imagine what your garden would be like without these useful friends. Scorpions, likewise, are predators, feeding on many types of small invertebrates. They are periodically found in some localities under rocks, bricks, leaf litter and fallen branches. However, there are some Centroides species that can have a dangerous sting.
Mites are arachnids that can be either beneficial or a pest, depending on the species.
Many of these can be quite injurious to our economically important plants, especially citrus and avocado. Many mites, though, are beneficial. Soil Mites are abundant wherever leaf litter and deep soils occur. They are important in promoting soil fertility through their digestion of organic matter. Predatory mites, Phytoseiulus persimilus , feed on other pest mites such as Red Spider and Two Spotted Mites.