rust mite

8.5

A very small animal like an insect that lives on plants and makes reddish brown spots on leaves or fruit

noun
/rʌst maɪt/

Specialized

: ácaro del óxido

The garden was infested with rust mites, which caused the leaves to turn a reddish-brown color.

Examples

The rust mite (Aceria anthocoptes), here on Canada thistle, may have potential as a biological control agent of this weed.

Academic text (2000)
These included pear psylla, the European red mite, two-spotted mite, and pear rust mite.

Academic text (1997)
Farmers are concerned about the damage that rust mites can inflict on apple trees.
After inspecting the plants, the gardener found rust mites that were harming the fruit on the vines.

Synonyms

mite

vsrust mite

27 6.3

A very small animal like a tiny spider that lives on animals, plants, or in food

is a species that targets plants causing reddish brown discoloration on leaves or fruit

Surface Forms

rust mite singular

rust mites plural

Morphology

rust + mite

The meaning is directly predictable from combining 'rust' (a plant disease or reddish-brown discoloration) with 'mite' (a tiny pest): it denotes a mite associated with rust damage. This is a regular noun–noun compound pattern that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the sense.

Etymology

Rust mite comes from the simple image of a very small mite that makes leaves or fruit look like they are covered in rust. Gardeners used this picture because the damage shows red-brown spots, so the name now means 'a tiny mite that causes reddish-brown discoloration on plants'.