Growth and Population Dynamics of a Spider Mite (Tetranychus Urticae K., Acarina: Tetranychidae)

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Abstract
Female T. urticae deposit eggs in a circumscribed area and the young tend to mature in that area. Pheromones released by developing females are effective over very short distances; hence, sib—mating is the rule at low densities. Males grow to about three times the egg biomass; 20%—30% of the eggs are males. Mature females weight eight times as much as males but they disperse at one—half or less of their mature weight and may reduce their weight by even more when resources are poor. This suite of adaptations allows 70%—80% of the eggs to be female and delays almost half the increase in the biomass of a set of young until after the mated females disperse to new resources.

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