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Trombiculidae

A family of mites whose larvae (redbugs, rougets, harvest mites, scrub mites, or chiggers) are parasitic on vertebrates and whose nymphs and adults are bright red and free-living, living on insect eggs or minute organisms in the soil. The six-legged larvae are barely visible red or orange parasites that attach to the skin for a few days to a month, producing an exceedingly irritating reaction. In the Orient, trombiculid chiggers of the genus leptotrombidium transmit tsutsugamushi disease caused by rickettsia tsutsugamushi, which is transovarially transmitted in these mites.