Comparative Study of the Biological and Life Table Parameters of Two Spider Mite Pest Species, Tetranychus merganser Boudreaux and Oligonychus punicae Hirst (Trombidiformes: Tetranychidae), on Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae)

Abstract

Oligonychus punicae Hirst and Tetranychus merganser Boudreaux (Acari: Tetranychidae) are two species of feeding spider mites that cause damage to the leaves of Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae). This research aimed to compare the biological and demographic parameters between T. merganser and O. punicae on M. oleifera leaflets. We calculated the demographic parameters for both spider mite species based on individual females’ daily age-specific survival rate (lx) and age-specific fecundity (mx). The mean immature period of O. punicae females (10.30 days) and males (10.05 days) was more extended than the T. merganser (8.62 and 8.61 days), respectively. The oviposition of T. merganser (58.02 eggs/female) was more significant than O. punicae (21.84 eggs/female), which caused its intrinsic natural growth rate to be higher for T. merganser (0.2771 d−1) than for O. punicae (0.1948 d−1). The generation time of T. merganser was shorter (13.01 days) than that of O. punicae (15.77 days), indicating that T. merganser has more life cycles per year than O. punicae. The Weibull model determined that the survival curves of T. merganser and O. punicae are Type I, and the O. punicae population decreases more slowly than the T. merganser population. The results of this study can be used to develop management and control strategies for both mite species in the M. oleifera crop.