True spiders as a biocontrol agent for controlling spider mites in egypt

摘要

In Egypt, through the last ten years, the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch caused damages for different field crops. This study aims to evaluate the biological aspects of the true spider, Thomisus spinifer Cambridge when fed on T. urticae and the efficiency of food consumption of this predaceous species. Results indicated that the life cycle of the spider lasted 231.67 and 193.73 days for the female and male respectively. The different spiderling of the spider consumed about 30 eggs and 25 adult stages of the spider mite per day.