Two-spotted spider mites, which are said to be the king of pests, and the closely related species Kanzawa spider mite avoid the footprints of caterpillars, which are the larvae of butterflies and moths. A research group led by Professor Junji Akino of the Department of Academia found this out.
According to Kyoto University, the research group placed green bean leaves on which caterpillars, silkworms, red-faced sparrows, two-spotted swallowtails, and cutworms were walking, and leaves on which they were not, and examined which leaves adult females of the two-spotted spider mite and Kanzawa spider mite colonize. .
They found that both spider mites avoided all caterpillar tracks.Previous studies have shown that spider mites avoid the tracks of predators such as ants and phytoseiid mites, but not the tracks of non-predatory herbivorous aphids.Caterpillars are also herbivores, but they are as judging as any deadly predator.
Spider mites are less than 0.5 millimeters long, while caterpillars are nearly 10 centimeters long.The research group suspects that the gluttonous caterpillar eats up the leaves and the eggs of the spider mites, which is why they perceive them to be as dangerous as predators.
Since spider mites change generations every 10 days, they tend to develop resistance to pesticides, making them a great enemy to farmers who grow vegetables.The research group believes that the use of caterpillar footprints could open up a way to get rid of spider mites.
Paper information:[Scientific Reports] Spider mites avoid caterpillar traces to prevent intraguild predation
