Tetranychus urticae (T. urticae) Koch is a cosmopolitan, polyphagous mite which causes economic losses in both agricultural and ornamental plants. Some traits of T. urticae hamper its management, including a short life cycle, arrhenotokous parthenogenesis, its haplodiploid sex determination system, and its extraordinary ability to adapt to different hosts and environmental conditions. Currently...

Recent research suggests that systemic signalling and communication between roots and leaves plays an important role in plant defence against herbivores. In the present study, we show that the oviposition of the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae in the systemic leaves of citrus rootstock Citrus aurantium (sour orange) was reduced by 50% when a lower leaf was previously infested with c...

Mite management is a major problem in pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cultivation the arid and semi-arid regions of India other Asian countries. The aim this work was to investigate susceptibility false spider mite (Tenuipalpus punicae) germplasm collection Indian pomegranates. A field screening 73 accessions allowed define different classes (from very low high) based on percentage infested le...

Environmental variables such as temperature are important factors affecting the efficacy of biological control agents. This study evaluated the predation rate of the predatory thrips Scolothrips longicornis Priesner (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) against the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) under laboratory conditions. Based on daily and total prey consumption ...

using mulch to decrease and optimize water use, increase yield and fruit quality is known as a practical method. for this purpose, a split-factorial experiment based on complete block design with three replications on two melon cultivars was conducted in torbat-e-jam, iran. interval irrigation treatments in three levels (six, eight and 10 days) were considered as main plot and mulch (rice straw...

repeatability, (the consistency with which a given trait is expressed) of aggressiveness against prey (attack latency) in gravid females of the predatory mite neoseiulus californicus (mcgregor) was examined. in two experiments, prey - conspecific individuals, the onion thrips thrips tabaci (lindeman), and the two-spotted spider mite tetranychus urticae koch- were repeatedly offered in various n...

Cotton plants contain suites of phytochemicals thought to be important in defense against herbivores, some of which are localized in pigment glands which contain gossypol and other terpenoid aldehydes. The simple genetic basis for the expression of these glands has led to the development of near-isogenic glanded and glandless genotypes. Glands may also be phenotypically induced by herbivory. We...

Many plants have an indirect defense against herbivores by emitting volatiles that attract carnivorous enemies of the herbivores. In cucumber (Cucumis sativus) the production of carnivore attractants can be induced by herbivory or jasmonic acid spraying. From the leaves of cucumber plants with and without spider mite infestation, two subtractive cDNA libraries were made that were enriched in cD...

Strawberry fruit, western flower thrips and two-spotted spider mites were exposed to a range of ethyl formate (EF) concentrations from 0.8 to 2.4%. Ethyl formate treatments included both single and multiple applications of EF, the multiple applications having a venting period between each application. Additionally, target pests were exposed to EF and elevated levels of CO2 from 5 to 95 kPa, bal...

The old world date mite, Oligonychus afrasiaticus (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae) is a severe spider mite pest of date palm in most of the Middle East and North Africa. Considering that nothing is known about the performance of phytoseiid predators against O. afrasiaticus, biology, predation, and life table parameters of Cydnoseius negevi (Swirski and Amitai) and Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes (Ac...