Variation in nesting behavior of eight species of spider mites, Stigmaeopsis having sociality.

Nesting behavior is considered to be an important element of social living in animals. The spider mites belonging to the genus Stigmaeopsis spend their lives within nests produced from silk threads. Several of these species show cooperative sociality, while the others are subsocial.

Counterattack success of a social spider mite against two predominant phytoseiid predator species.

A survey was conducted of the predator fauna occurring in and around the nests of the two forms (LW: low male aggression and HG: high male aggression) of Stigmaeopsis miscanthi (Saito) that occur in Japan. Two phytoseiid species, Neoseiulus womersleyi (Schicha) and Typhlodromus bambusae Ehara predominated in S. miscanthi nests and their respective occurrence frequencies were the same in LW form nests as in HG form nests.

The parapatric distribution and contact zone of two forms showing different male-to-male aggressiveness in a social spider mite, Stigmaeopsis miscanthi (Acari: Tetranychidae).

Two forms showing different male-to-male aggressiveness, different male morphologies and different diapause attributes are known in Stigmaeopsis miscanthi (Saito), a social spider mite infesting Chinese silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis Anderss). Reproductive isolation exists between the forms, although it is not always complete, and the details of their distributional patterns are unknown, but expected to be parapatric. We searched for the contact zone at Mt.

Ambulatory migration in mites (Acari: Tetranychidae, Phytoseiidae) to new leaves of moso bamboo shoots.

The migratory behaviour of two tetranychid pest species, Aponychus corpuzae and Schizotetranychus nanjingensis, and one phytoseiid, Typhlodromus bambusae, was studied in several monocultural bamboo forests in Fujian Province, China. The aim of the study was to assess how the ambulatory immigration of tetranychid and phytoseiid mites from the ground to new leaves is affected by a sticky barrier around the stem, by the age of bamboo shoots or by shoot density. The results show that while the sticky barrier is particularly effective at disrupting the ambulatory immigration from the ground to new leaves of S.