Tetranychus urticae
| Tetranychus urticae | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Arachnida |
| Subclass: | Acari |
| Order: | Trombidiformes |
| Family: | Tetranychidae |
| Genus: | Tetranychus |
| Species: | T. urticae |
| Binomial name | |
| Tetranychus urticae C. L. Koch, 1836 |
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Tetranychus urticae (common names include red spider mite and twospotted spider mite) is one of many species of plant-feeding mites found in dry environments across the world, and generally considered a pest. It is the most widely known member of the family Tetranychidae or spider mites. Its genome was fully sequenced in 2011[1], becoming the first one for an Arachnida.
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[edit] Distribution
Tetranychus urticae was originally native only to Eurasia, but has acquired a cosmopolitan distribution.[2]
[edit] Description
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Tetranychus urticae is extremely small, barely visible with the naked eye as reddish or greenish spots on leaves and stems; the adult females measure about 0.4 mm long.[3] The red spider mite, which can be seen in greenhouses and tropical and temperate zones, spins a fine web on and under leaves.[3]
[edit] Ecology
Tetranychus urticae is extremely polyphagous. It can feed on hundreds of plants, including most vegetables and food crops including peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, corn, strawberries; and ornamentals such as roses.[3] It lays its eggs on the leaves, and it poses a threat to host plants by sucking cell contents from the leaves cell by cell, leaving tiny pale spots or scars where the green epidermal cells have been destroyed.[3] Although the individual lesions are very small, attack by hundreds or thousands of spider mites can cause thousands of lesions and thus can significantly reduce the photosynthetic capability of plants.[3]
The mite's natural predator, Phytoseiulus persimilis, commonly used as a biological control method, is one of many predatory mites which prey mainly or exclusively on spider mites.[3]
[edit] Life cycle
The egg of T. urticae is translucent and pearl-like.[2] It hatches into a nymph, which in turn develops into a protonymph, and then a deutonymph, which may display quiescent stages. The adults are typically pale green in colour for most of the year, but later generations are red in colour; mated females survive the winter in diapause.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Grbic et al. (2011). The genome of Tetranychus urticae reveals herbivorous pest adaptations. Nature 479, 487-492.
- ^ a b c D. A. Raworth, D. R. Gillespie, M. Roy & H. M. A. Thistlewood (2002). "Tetranychus urticae Koch, twospotted spider mite (Acari: Tetranychidae)". In Peter G. Mason & John Theodore Huber. Biological Control Programmes in Canada, 1981–2000. CAB International. pp. 259–265. ISBN 9780851995274. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tDHWhOEhTckC&pg=PA259.
- ^ a b c d e f Thomas R. Fasulo & H. A. Denmark (December 2009). "Twospotted spider mite". Featured Creatures. University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/twospotted_mite.htm. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
[edit] External links
Media related to Tetranychus urticae at Wikimedia Commons- MEMS Movie Gallery, spider mite used for demonstrating microelectromechanical systems technology
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