Behavioural response of spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) to induced resistance of cotton plants

Abstract

ABSTRACT.

• 1Spider mites (Tetranychus urticae Koch) given a choice between a cotton plant previously damaged by mites and an undamaged control preferentially moved to the control plant.
• 2This host-choice behaviour was seen in adult female mites but not in immatures.
• 3Adult females were not found to be significantly more fecund on control plants than on previously damaged plants, but the duration of this choice experiment precluded full assessment of effects on fecundity.
• 4Mites responded very quickly, choosing previously undamaged plants without contacting or feeding on the test plants. This suggests that an olfactory response to a chemical substance(s) is involved.