Environmental Entomology (1984) 13, 221-227

L.S. Boykin and W.V. Campbell (1984)
Wind dispersal of the twospotted spider mite (Acari: Tetranychidae) in North Carolina peanut fields
Environmental Entomology 13 (1), 221-227
Abstract: The role of wind dispersal in the ecology of Tetranychus urticae Koch in North Carolina peanut fields was evaluated. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that even low-level infestations of T. urticae were dispersed by winds of only 8 km/h. However, the most mites were dispersed by 24-km/h winds when mites were massing. In the field the number of T. urticae caught was inversely proportional to trap height, and most mites are caught at about the height of peanut plants (0.6 m). More mites were caught blowing from southerly directions along with the predominant summer winds than from any other direction; however, mites were blown in all directions. Pesticides which caused T. urticae populations to increase in peanut fields resulted in significant increases in aerially dispersing mites. Mites were dispersed by wind in all treatments, on all dates, and with all populations measured.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
population dynamics/ epidemiology
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Tetranychus urticae	Groundnut/peanut (Arachis hypogaea)	U.S.A. (SE)