Different forms of Tetranychus urticaeKoch and their plasticity in retaining eggs in the presence of predatory mites, Amblyseius swirskiiand Phytoseiulus persimilis

Askarieh Yazdi, Sepideh; ZahediGolpayegani, Azadeh; Saboori, Alireza; Karami Badrbani, Fereshteh

doi:10.22073/pja.v4i3.13223

Different forms of Tetranychus urticaeKoch and their plasticity in retaining eggs in the presence of predatory mites, Amblyseius swirskiiand Phytoseiulus persimilis

Authors

Sepideh Askarieh Yazdi ¹

Azadeh ZahediGolpayegani ²

Alireza Saboori ²

Fereshteh Karami Badrbani ²

¹ Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran;

² Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj,Iran;

10.22073/pja.v4i3.13223

Abstract

Recent reports indicate that female prey species may increase the time to oviposition in order to prevent egg predation. The generality of this behavior is unknown especially among herbivorous mites. We used females of two forms of Tetranychus urticae, red and green forms, to study whether they retain eggs in response to exposure to the predatory mites Phytoseiulus persimilis and Amblyseius swirskii. Females were tested in two situations: 1) receiving cues related to predator-prey interaction; 2) perceiving the direct presence of predator. None of the treatments induced the T. urticae forms to retain eggs. The egg development time of the green form was significantly shorter than that of the red form after receiving cues related to P. persimilis-prey interactions. The egg development time of the forms did not show significant difference in the direct presence of each of the predator species. The probability of hatching plasticity in T. urticae is discussed.

Keywords

Egg retention

hatching plasticity

oviposition

Phytoseiidae

spider mites