This mite is super small -- roughly  the size of a grain of salt.

But its oversized appetite makes it one  of the most daunting threats farmers face Unchecked, they devastate crops  like these delicious strawberries.

You’ll know these mites by their  calling-card: dry rusty leaves.

And by these messy webs that give our tiny  foe it’s name: The twospotted spider mite.

It’s not really a spider, but it is an arachnid --  so it’s related.

And it does have two dark spots.

It sucks the juices from the strawberry  plants’ leaves with its needle-like stylet.

Sip after sip, row after row.

Pretty soon the leaves won’t be able to  absorb enough sunlight to fuel the plant.

Farmers use pesticides, but spider  mites quickly become resistant.

So farmers formed a strategic  alliance... With a bolder, badder mite.

Persimilis.

Persimilis is a predator.

It only eats other mites… and it’s  favorite is the twospotted spider mite.

The tiny carnivores arrive in  bottles packed with vermiculite,   a lightweight mineral that gives  them something to hold on to.

But spreading them by hand takes a ton of time.

So some farmers are taking this  old battle to the next level.

They’re calling in air support.

Drones, packed with persimilis!

The predatory paratroopers  rain down on the field below.

The moment they land, the bright red persimilis  start hunting down the unwelcome vegetarians.

Persimilis are blind.

They track down their prey with palps  that sense vibrations and smells.

Plants under attack by spider  mites release pheromones.

Those signals lead persimilis  mites right to their prey.

They tear into their prey with biting pincers  called chelicerae.

And slurp out the innards.

Persimilis mites have a taste  for eggs too.

Caviar anyone?

mmmmmmmm….

Eventually this skilled hunter is so  successful it exhausts its only source of food.

When the feasting’s done, the  persimilis mites can’t survive.

The field goes quiet.

The strawberries are safe… At least until the spider mites return,  to face another fight from the skies.