The life cycle passes through larva, two resting stages and an active nymph before adulthood, with the activity stages interleaved with quiescent ones. Only the larva is parasitic: it attaches to a host insect, feeds on tissue fluids through a stylostome, then drops off to develop. The nymph and adult hunt independently in the litter layer, preying on collembolans, mites and the eggs of other invertebrates.
The conspicuous scarlet colour is thought to be aposematic, warning that the mite is distasteful, and predators including spiders and ants have been observed rejecting them. The dense velvety setae are sensory as well as protective.
Mass surface appearances after monsoon rain, when soil moisture rises and the mites emerge to mate and disperse, are the reason they are noticed at all. Adults perform a spermatophore-based courtship in which the male deposits sperm packets on the ground and lays silk trails leading a female to them. How reliably that signalling works, and how much the red pigment actually deters predators in the field, are not well quantified.