{{Short description|Species of mite}} {{Speciesbox | name = ''Tetranychus urticae'' | image = Tetranychus urticae (4883560779).jpg | image_caption = A red individual | image2 = Tetranychus-urticae.jpg | image2_caption = A yellow individual with two black spots | genus = Tetranychus | species = urticae | authority = C. L. Koch, 1836 }}
'''''Tetranychus urticae''''' (common names include '''red spider mite''' and '''two-spotted spider mite''') is a species of plant-feeding mite generally considered to be a pest. It is the most widely known member of the family Tetranychidae or spider mites. Its genome was fully sequenced in 2011, and was the first genome sequence from any chelicerate.
==Distribution==
''T. urticae'' was originally native only to Eurasia, but has acquired a cosmopolitan distribution as a common pest in a wide range of agricultural systems.<ref name="Raworth">{{cite book | veditors = Mason PG, Huber JT |year=2002 |title=Biological Control Programmes in Canada, 1981–2000 |publisher=CAB International |isbn=978-0-85199-527-4 | vauthors = Raworth DA, Gillespie DR, Roy R, Thistlewood HM |chapter=''Tetranychus urticae'' Koch, twospotted spider mite (Acari: Tetranychidae) |pages=259–265 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDHWhOEhTckC&pg=PA259}}</ref>
==Description== thumb|160px|left|Zoological drawing ''T. urticae'' is extremely small, barely visible with the naked eye as reddish, yellow or black spots on plants; the adult females measure about {{convert|0.4|mm|abbr=on}} long.<ref name="IFAS">{{cite web |url=http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/twospotted_mite.htm |title=Twospotted spider mite |publisher=University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences |work=Featured Creatures |access-date=May 20, 2011 |date=December 2009 | first1 = Thomas R. | last1 = Fasulo | first2 = H. A. | last2 = Denmark | name-list-style = vanc }}</ref> Adult mites sometimes spin a fine web on and under leaves.<ref name="IFAS"/>
==Ecology== <gallery mode="packed"> File:Spider mites on a pepino leaf.png|Some ''T. urticae'' adults and eggs on the underside of a pepino leaf File:Red spider mite (Tetranychus urticae).jpg|A colony of ''T. urticae'' </gallery> This spider mite is extremely polyphagous; it can feed on hundreds of plants, including most vegetables and food crops – such as peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, pepinos, beans, maize, and strawberries, and ornamental plants such as roses.<ref name="IFAS"/> It is the most prevalent pest of ''Withania somnifera'' in India.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Sharma A, Kumar Pati P | title = First record of the carmine spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, infesting Withania somnifera in India | journal = Journal of Insect Science | volume = 12 | issue = 50 | pages = 1–4 | year = 2012 | pmid = 22970740 | pmc = 3476950 | doi = 10.1673/031.012.5001 | url = http://www.insectscience.org/12.50/i1536-2442-12-50.pdf | name-list-style = amp }}</ref> It lays its eggs on the leaves, and it poses a threat to host plants by sucking cell contents from the leaves cell by cell, leaving tiny pale spots or scars where the green epidermal cells have been destroyed.<ref name="IFAS"/> Although the individual lesions are very small, attack by hundreds or thousands of spider mites can cause thousands of lesions, thus can significantly reduce the photosynthetic capability of plants.<ref name="IFAS"/> They feed on single cells which are pierced with a stylet-like mouthpart and the cell contents are removed, they do damage to the spongy mesophyll, palisade parenchyma, and chloroplasts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cloyd |first=Raymond |date=May 10, 2022 |title=Insect and Mite Pests Feeding Behaviors and Plant Damage. |journal=Greenhouse Product News |volume=32 |issue=5 |page=10}}</ref>
''T. urticae'' populations may increase rapidly in hot, dry conditions, expanding to 70 times the original population in as few as six days.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hodgson |first1=Erin |last2=Dean |first2=Ashley |date=2022 |title=Twospotted Spider Mites |url=https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/encyclopedia/twospotted-spider-mites |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=Iowa State University Extension and Outreach}}</ref>
The mite's natural predator, ''Phytoseiulus persimilis'', commonly used as a biological control method, is one of many predatory mites which prey mainly or exclusively on spider mites.<ref name="IFAS"/>
''T. urticae'' is among the few animals known to synthesise carotenoids. As in aphids and gall midges, the genes for carotene synthesis appear to have been acquired through horizontal gene transfer from a fungus.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Altincicek B, Kovacs JL, Gerardo NM | title = Horizontally transferred fungal carotenoid genes in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae | journal = Biology Letters | volume = 8 | issue = 2 | pages = 253–7 | date = April 2012 | pmid = 21920958 | pmc = 3297373 | doi = 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0704 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cobbs |first1=Cassidy |last2=Heath |first2=Jeremy |last3=Stireman |first3=John O. |last4=Abbot |first4=Patrick |date=2013-08-01 |title=Carotenoids in unexpected places: Gall midges, lateral gene transfer, and carotenoid biosynthesis in animals |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790313001139 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |language=en |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=221–228 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2013.03.012 |issn=1055-7903|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bryon A, Kurlovs AH, Dermauw W, Greenhalgh R, Riga M, Grbić M, Tirry L, Osakabe M, Vontas J, Clark RM, Van Leeuwen T | display-authors = 6 | title = Tetranychus urticae | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 114 | issue = 29 | pages = E5871–E5880 | date = July 2017 | pmid = 28674017 | pmc = 5530703 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1706865114 | doi-access = free }}</ref>
== Lifecycle == ''T. urticae'' reproduces through arrhenotoky, a form of parthenogenesis in which unfertilized eggs develop into males.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Feiertag-Koppen CC | title = Cytological studies of the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (Tetranychidae, trombidiformes). I: Meiosis in eggs. | journal = Genetica | date = December 1976 | volume = 46 | issue = 4 | pages = 445–56 | doi = 10.1007/BF00128090 | s2cid = 34991579 }}</ref>
The egg of ''T. urticae'' is translucent and pearl-like.<ref name=Raworth/> It hatches into a larva, and two nymph stages follow: a protonymph, and then a deutonymph, which may display quiescent stages. The adults are typically pale green for most of the year, but later generations are red; mated females survive the winter in diapause.<ref name=Raworth/>
===Inbreeding avoidance=== Inbreeding is detrimental for fitness in ''T. urticae''.<ref name=Tien>{{cite journal | vauthors = Tien NS, Massourakis G, Sabelis MW, Egas M | title = Mate choice promotes inbreeding avoidance in the two-spotted spider mite | journal = Experimental & Applied Acarology | volume = 54 | issue = 2 | pages = 119–24 | date = June 2011 | pmid = 21400191 | pmc = 3084432 | doi = 10.1007/s10493-011-9431-y }}</ref> Inbred progeny mature more slowly than outbred progeny, and inbred female progeny have lower reproductive output. ''T. urticae'' females apparently are capable of kin recognition and have the ability to avoid inbreeding through mate choice.<ref name=Tien/>
== Genomics == {{Infobox genome | image = <!-- Karyotype, for instance --> | caption = | taxId = 2710 | ploidy = haploid (males) / diploid (females) | chromosomes = <!-- number (unit is pairs) --> | size = 90.82 Mb | year = 2011 | organelle = <!-- type of organelle sequenced --> | organelle-size = <!-- number (unit is Mb) --> | organelle-year = <!-- year of sequencing of organelle --> }} The genome of ''T. urticae'' was fully sequenced in 2011, and was the first genome sequence from any chelicerate.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Grbić M, Van Leeuwen T, Clark RM, Rombauts S, Rouzé P, Grbić V, Osborne EJ, Dermauw W, Ngoc PC, Ortego F, Hernández-Crespo P, Diaz I, Martinez M, Navajas M, Sucena É, Magalhães S, Nagy L, Pace RM, Djuranović S, Smagghe G, Iga M, Christiaens O, Veenstra JA, Ewer J, Villalobos RM, Hutter JL, Hudson SD, Velez M, Yi SV, Zeng J, Pires-daSilva A, Roch F, Cazaux M, Navarro M, Zhurov V, Acevedo G, Bjelica A, Fawcett JA, Bonnet E, Martens C, Baele G, Wissler L, Sanchez-Rodriguez A, Tirry L, Blais C, Demeestere K, Henz SR, Gregory TR, Mathieu J, Verdon L, Farinelli L, Schmutz J, Lindquist E, Feyereisen R, Van de Peer Y | display-authors = 6 | title = The genome of Tetranychus urticae reveals herbivorous pest adaptations | journal = Nature | volume = 479 | issue = 7374 | pages = 487–92 | date = November 2011 | pmid = 22113690 | pmc = 4856440 | doi = 10.1038/nature10640 | bibcode = 2011Natur.479..487G }}</ref> {{clear right}}
== References == {{Reflist|32em}}
== External links == {{Portal|Arthropods}} {{Commons category|Tetranychus urticae|''Tetranychus urticae''}} * [http://www.memx.com/movie_gallery.htm MEMS Movie Gallery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716155836/http://www.memx.com/movie_gallery.htm |date=2015-07-16 }}, spider mite used for demonstrating microelectromechanical systems technology * [https://bugssolution.com/early-signs-of-spider-mites/ Early Signs Of Spider Mites]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1335549}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Tetranychidae Category:Agricultural pest mites Category:Grape pests Category:Animals described in 1836 Category:Arachnids of Asia Category:Taxa named by Carl Ludwig Koch