Development and reproduction of Oligonychus coffeae (Acari: Tetranychidae) on tea

TLDR: The developmental time declined as temperatures increased from 15-32°C, and the total effective temperature for the egg-to-egg period and the intrinsic rate of natural increase was close to the value for Tetranychus kanzawai, another serious pest of tea plants, when reared on tea.

Abstract: The red spider mite, Oligonychus coffeae, has been known as an important pest of tea, coffee, mango, cotton and jute in the tropical and subtropical regions. Ehara et al. (1997) reported that O. coffeae infests mango plants grown on Okinawa Island, which was the first record of this species identified in Japan. This paper reports the developmental and reproductive traits of a population collected from tea on Okinawa Island. The developmental time declined as temperatures increased from 15-32°C. The threshold temperature for development and the total effective temperature for the egg-to-egg period were 10°C and 232.6 degree-days, respectively. The intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) was 0.186 at 25°C, which is close to the value for Tetranychus kanzawai, another serious pest of tea plants, when reared on tea.