Reproductive isolation between tetranychus lintearius and two related mites tetranychus urticae and tetranychus turkestani acarina tetranychidae
Hill, R.L.; O'donnell D.J.
Experimental and Applied Acarology 11(4): 241-252
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0168-8162
Accession: 007747426
Gorse, Ulex europaeus L. (Leguminosae), is a serious weed in New Zealand and some other temperate parts of the world. Tetranychus lintearius Dufour (Tetranychidae) has been released in New Zealand as a biological control agent for the weed. Before it could be introduced from Europe, it was necessary to show that T. lintearius is reproductively isolated from closely related pest mites. Crosses and reciprocal crosses were made between T. lintearius and four populations of T. urticae Koch, and between T. lintearius and one population of T. turkestani (Ugarov and Nikolski). In a second experiments, males of a second population of T. lintearius were crossed with females of five T. urticae populations. The sex-ratio of F1 progeny in both experiments suggested that T. lintearius was reproductively isolated from the other species, and could therefore be used as a biological control agent for gorse.