Acaricide resistance in two-spotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae

摘要

Tetranychus urticae is capable of rapidly developing resistance to many acaricides used for its control. A very high level of resistance to many compounds has developed after one to four years of use, which often also induces a high degree of cross-resistance. Resistance development is accelerated by the great fecundity, inbreeding, and very short life-cycle of the mites, resulting in many generations per year especially in warmer conditions. Spider mites also appear to have a high mutation rate, which favours the development of resistance alleles. The phenomenon of arrhenotoky, resulting in haploid males, leads to faster fixation of possible resistance alleles, and recessive traits are immediately visible in the population.