Variation Among Populations of the Twospotted Spider Mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), in Measures of Fitness and Host-Acceptance Behavior on Tomato

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Abstract
Seven populations of the twospotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) were compared in measures of survival, development rate, reproduction, and host-acceptance behavior on tomato plants. Populations varied widely in the fitness measures and degree of acceptance of tomato. These results, together with those of a previous study, show that although individual populations of T. urticae are broadly polyphagous, different populations may vary considerably in performance on a particular host species or variety. As a result, studies designed to assess the resistance of a cultivar to T. urticae that use only a single mite population may give misleading results.