Life cycle of Oligonychus coffeae (Acari: Tetranychidae) on tea leaves in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The tea plant, Camellia sinensis (L.), has been cultivated since ancient time and is host to several pest species that can significant reduce productivity. One such pest species is the tea red spider mite. The fife cycle of this species, Oligonychus coffeae, Nienter was studied on tea leaves in Darjeeling under laboratory conditions at 20°C and 65% relative humidity. Observations were recorded on freshly laid eggs on tea leaves and continued until individuals reached adulthood. The eggs required an average of 16.17 days to develop into adults. The average longevity of adult was 28.67 days. Our findings contribute to the understanding of mite abundance and population fluctuations in different seasons and climates, and will hopefully help to devise a management strategy for this pest species.

Life cycle of a plant parasitic mite, Tetranychus sayedi Baker & Pitchard (Acari: Tetranychidae) on two hosts from West Bengal, India

“…Therefore, the duration of protonymphal period observed in the present study was much shorter as compared to duration reported by Maity and Chakrabarti (1978), Puttaswamy and Channabasavanna (1980), Sirsikar and Nagabhushanam (1989), Rai et al (1989), Nayak et al (2007) and Tello et al (2009); but close to those of Lal and Mukharji (1979), Manjunatha and Puttuswamy (1989), Kaimal and Ramani (2011), Biswas et al (2013) and Podder et al (2014).…”

“…In O. indicus on sorghum this period was 4.73 days (Rai et al 1989). This period was recorded as 5.90 ± 0.12 days in O. oryzae on paddy by Nayak et al (2007); 7.03 ± 0.20 days in case of O. coffeae on rose leaves by Haque et al (2007); 4.80 days in case of T. chinnabarinus on Dianthus caryophyllus by Tello et al (2009); 2.71 ± 0.07 days in case of T. chinnabarinus on lablab bean by Kaimal and Ramani (2011); 2.5 ± 0.17 days on Clitoria ternatea and 2.00 ± 0.45 days on J. adhatoda in case of T. macfarlanei by Biswas et al (2013) and 2.47 ± 0.34 days in case of O. coffeae on tea leaves by Podder et al (2014).…”

Phytochemical analysis of mite‐infested tea leaves of Darjeeling Hills, India

“…Like other cultivated crops, tea bushes are very often attacked by a large number of mite pests . Red spider mite, Oligonychus coffeae Nietner and tea purple mite, Calacarus carinatus Green , are such pests in India mostly attacking tea plants. In addition, scarlet mite, Brevipalpus phoenicis Geijskes and tea pink mite, Acaphylla theae Watt, also damage tea leaves.…”

“…Red spider mite reside on the upper leaf surfaces; while tea purple, scarlet and tea pink mites inhabit the lower leaf surfaces . Oligonychus coffeae sucks the plant sap and turns the leaves copperish bronze in colour that eventually dry up and fall amounting to over 12% damage . The scarlet mite also sucks sap making tea leaves brownish, thereby converting tea bushes unproductive.…”

“…6 Oligonychus coffeae sucks the plant sap and turns the leaves copperish bronze in colour that eventually dry up and fall amounting to over 12% damage. 5 The scarlet mite also sucks sap making tea leaves brownish, thereby converting tea bushes unproductive. The damage symptoms, due to Acaphylla theae could be pale leathery appearance of the tea leaves and occurrence of purple or copperish bronzy colour to the upper leaf surfaces.…”