Development and reproduction of five Tetranychus species (Acari: Tetranychidae): Do they all have the potential to become major pests?

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate whether four spider mite species, Tetranychus ludeni, T. phaselus, T. piercei and T. truncatus, currently with insignificant economic impact, have the potential to achieve the same status as T. urticae, which until now has been considered as the most serious tetranychid pest species in orchards and greenhouses. We investigated the effect of temperature on development, survival and oviposition at 11 constant temperatures ranging from 15 to 40 °C at intervals of 2.5 °C and estimated demographic parameters, such as the intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm), for these five species at five constant temperatures. Developmental time from egg to adult (female and male) decreased with increasing temperature from 15 to 32.5 °C in all five species, but increased slightly at 35 °C or higher, especially in T. ludeni and T. urticae. Using linear and non-linear developmental rate models, the lower thermal thresholds for egg-to-adult (female and male) and egg-to-egg development were found to range from 9.8 to 11.7 and from 9.8 to 11.4 °C, respectively. The intrinsic optimal temperature (TΦ) ranged from 18.0 to 27.4 °C for egg-to-female adult and from 23.9 to 27.2 °C for egg-to-egg development. The oviposition period and adult longevity were strongly affected by temperature. The rm-values increased with increasing temperature from 15 to 30 or 35 °C in all five species. The highest rm-values at each temperature were 0.114 day(-1) at 15 °C for T. ludeni, 0.199 day(-1) at 20 °C for T. urticae, 0.314 day(-1) at 25 °C for T. ludeni, 0.451 day(-1) at 30 °C for T. ludeni and 0.433 day(-1) at 35 °C for T. truncatus. The total fecundity, net reproductive rate (R0) and rm of T. ludeni were higher than those of T. urticae at all temperatures. T. piercei and T. truncatus showed higher rm-values at 30 and 35 °C than T. urticae. The results indicate that the former three species are better adapted to hot weather than T. urticae and have a high potential to become serious pests.

Acaricidal properties of extracts of some medicinal and culinary plants against Tetranychus urticae Koch.

“…The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), was used as the target organism. T. urticae is considered the most polyphagous species and has been reported in numerous host plants of economic value, including major food crops and ornamental plants (Ho 2000;Gotoh et al 2015), causing damage to around 1200 plant species. The rapid population growth, short developmental time, high birth rate, and long adult survival lead to a high risk of outbreaks (Zhang 2003) and, coupled with male haploidy, which exposes recessive resistance genes to selection, result in a high rate of development of resistance to acaricides.…”

Preference of red mite Tetranychus ludeni Zacher (Acari: Tetranychidae) to sweet potato genotypes

“…Mites herbivores are common pest in agriculture (Ghazy and Suzuki, 2014;Navia et al, 2009), ornamental plants (Silva et al, 2009) and forests (Pereira et al, 2012;Deus et al, 2012) infesting a wide range of plant hosts (Mendonça et al, 2011) and are among the most important pests across the world. Tetranychus ludeni Zacher (Acari: Tetranychidae) commonly found in the tropics (Zhang, 2002), occurs worldwide and infests more than 250 plant species (Gotoh et al, 2015), especially eggplant (Solanum melongena) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) (Reddy, 2001). This mite has potential to cause severe damage and death to sweet potato plants (Soares et al, 2012).…”

“…Tetranychus ludeni is better adapted to hot weather than T. urticae and has a high potential to become serious pest in other cultures (Gotoh et al, 2015).…”

Host plant and field density of <i>Tetranychus phaselus</i> Ehara (Acari: Tetranychidae)

“…Tetranychus phaselus (Acari: Tetranychidae) is a minor pest species distributed in East Russia, China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan and appears on about ten plant species (Gotoh et al, 2015). In Japan, T. phaselus feeds on Fatoua villosa (Moraceae), ramie (Boehmeria nivea [L.] Gaudich.…”

“…] Kitam. ex H.Ohba, Urticaceae), cultivated bean plants (Ehara, 1960;Gotoh et al, 2015), and, in the Okinawa Prefecture, Acalypha australis L. (Euphorbiaceae) (Ohno and Kijima, 2012). Although the host range of T. phaselus has not been clarified in detail, it appears to be narrower than those of the common polyphagous pest species T. kanzawai, which is broadly distributed among Asian countries and feeds on various plants (Gomi and Gotoh, 1996;Ehara and Gotoh, 2009).…”