Amblyseius swirskii adults have 8 legs and the body is a whole unit as opposed to segmented. It has relatively few hairs on its back, 20 pairs at most. A. swirskii cannot be distinguished from a number of other predatory mites such as A. cucumeris, A. californicus, or A. andersoni with the naked eye. The differences in appearance are subtle and can only be seen under microscope. The color of A. swirskii is dependent on what the mites have been eating. This can vary from dark red to purple, to light yellow. With thrips and whitefly as prey, the color tends to be a kind of light orange. The mites feed by piercing small arthropod prey or grains of pollen with their mouthparts, and draining the contents.