SpringerLink
Log in

Two-spotted Spider Mites Respond to Chemical Cues Associated with Conspecifics’ Silk When Choosing a Microhabitat

  • Published:
Journal of Insect Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Tetranychus urticae (the two-spotted spider mite) is a phytophagous agricultural pest that affects many economically important crops. Two-spotted spider mites are group-living arachnids that produce silk webbing which is used for protection and dispersal, and also influences settlement behavior of conspecifics. We investigated the effects of conspecific silk and frass on microhabitat selection of these mites and whether these materials are substrates for semiochemicals. Two-choice behavioral assays gave mites the option of settling in the presence or absence of cues produced by conspecifics. Both sexes of mites preferred to settle in the presence of silk produced by conspecific females, and males also responded positively to silk produced by other males. Frass alone had no effect on mite settlement choices, but mites tended to prefer frass in combination with silk over silk alone. Female mites did not respond to conspecific silk after it was washed with methanol, and a crude methanol extract of the silk was sufficient to elicit settlement behavior, confirming that a semiochemical is responsible for the effect. We conclude that silk-bound semiochemicals provide cues used by both male and female mites when selecting a microhabitat, and that frass may also provide relevant social cues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Raw data included as a supplementary file.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

References

  • Bernard A, Krafft B (2002) Silk attraction: base of group cohesion and collective behaviours in social spiders. C R Biol 325:1153–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blomquist GJ, Figueroa-Teran R, Aw M, Song M, Gorzalski A, Abbott NL, Chang E, Tittiger C (2010) Pheromone production in bark beetles. Insect Biochem Mol Biol 40:699–712

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • CABI (2019) Tetranychus urticae (two-spotted spider mite). Invasive Species Compendium. https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/53366#toidentity. Accessed 1 Apr 2021

  • Carr AL, Roe M (2016) Acarine attractants: chemoreception, bioassay, chemistry and control. Pestic Biochem Phys 131:60–79

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clotuche G, Deneubourg J-L, Mailleux A-C, Detrain C, Hance T (2012) Discrimination through silk recognition: The case of the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae C R Biol 335:535–540

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clotuche G, Turlure C, Mailleux A-C, Detrain C, Hance T (2013a) Should I lay or should I wait? Egg-laying in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch. Behav Processes 92:24–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clotuche G, Navajas M, Mailleux A-C, Hance T (2013b) Reaching the ball or missing the flight? Collective dispersal in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae PLoS ONE 8:e77573

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clotuche G, Mailleux A-C, Yano S, Detrain C, Deneubourg J-L, Hance T (2013c) Settlement decisions by the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae C R Biol 336:93–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clotuche G, Yano S, Akino T, Amano H (2014) Chemical investigation of aggregation behaviour in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Exp Appl Acarol 63:377–387

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Colasurdo N, Despland E (2005) Social cues and following behaviour in the forest tent caterpillar. J Insect Behav 18:77–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cone WW, Predki S, Klostermeyer EC (1971) Pheromone studies of the two-spotted spider mite. 2. Behavioural response of males to quiescent deutonymphs. J Econ Entomol 64:379–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher R, Miller C (2006) Emergent properties of conspecific attraction in fragmented landscapes. Am Nat 168:207–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaskett AC (2007) Spider sex pheromones: emission, reception, structures, and functions. Biol Rev 82:27–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gerson U (1985) Webbing. In: Helle W, Sabelis MW (eds) Spider mites, their biology, natural enemies and control, vol 1A. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 223–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalo A, Cabido C, Galan P, Lopez P, Martín J (2006) Predator, but not conspecific, chemical cues influence pond selection by recently metamorphosed Iberian green frogs, Rana perezi Can J Zool 84:1295–1299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeanson R, Deneubourg J-L, Theraulaz G (2004) Discrete dragline attachment induces aggregation in spiderlings of a solitary species. Anim Behav 67:531–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krafft B, Cookson LJ (2012) The role of silk in the behaviour and sociality of spiders. Psyche 2012:529564

  • Landolt PJ (1997) Sex attractant and aggregation pheromones of male phytophagous insects. Am Entomol 43:12–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Goff GJ, Hance T, Detrain C, Deneubourg J-L, Clotuche G, Mailleux AC (2012) Impact of starvation on the silk attractiveness in a weaving mite, Tetranychus urticae (Acari: Tetranychidae). J Ethol 30:125–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzo MG, Lazzari CR (1996) The spatial pattern of defaecation in Triatoma infestans and the role of faeces as a chemical mark of the refuge. J Insect Physiol 42:903–907

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Margolies DC, Collins RD (1994) Chemically-mediated pre-mating behavior in two tetranychid species. Exp Appl Acarol 18:493–501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martini X, Guvvala H, Nansen C (2015) The search behavior of omnivorous thrips larvae is influenced by spider mite cues. J Insect Behav 28:593–603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mukhin A, Chernetsov N, Kishkinev D (2008) Acoustic information as a distant cue for habitat recognition by nocturnally migrating passerines during landfall. Behav Ecol 19:716723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muller KL (1998) The role of conspecifics in habitat selection in a territorial grasshopper. Anim Behav 56:479–485

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oku K (2009) Female mating strategy during precopulatory mate guarding in spider mites. Anim Behav 77:207–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oku K, Weldegergis BT, Poelman EH, De Jong PW, Dicke M (2015) Altered volatile profile associated with precopulatory mate guarding attracts spider mite males. J Chem Ecol 41:187–193

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Penman DR, Cone WW (1974) Role of web, tactile stimuli and female sex pheromone in attraction of male two-spotted spider mites to quiescent female deutonymphs. Ann Entomol Soc Am 67:179–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter DA, Wrensch DL, Johnston DE (1976) Guarding, aggressive behavior, and mating success in male twospotted spider mites. Ann Entomol Soc Am 69:707–711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2020) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed JM, Dobson AP (1993) Behavioural constraints and conservation biology: conspecific attraction and recruitment. Trends Ecol Evol 8:253–256

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigues LR, Figueiredo AR, Van Leeuwen T, Olivieri I, Magalhães S (2020) Costs and benefits of multiple mating in a species with first-male sperm precedence. J Anim Ecol 89(4):1045–1054

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabelis MW, Bakker FM (1992) How predatory mites cope with the web of their tetranychid prey: a functional view on dorsal chaetotaxy in the Phytoseiidae. Exp Appl Acarol 16:203–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saffre F, Furey R, Krafft B, Deneubourg JL (1999) Collective decision making in social spiders: dragline-mediated amplification process acts as a recruitment mechanism. J Theor Biol 198:507–517

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saito Y (1977) Study on the spinning behaviour of the spider mite (Acarina: Tetranychidae). I. Method for the quantitative evaluation of the mite webbing, and the relationship between webbing and walking. Jpn J Appl Entomol 21:27–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuck-Paim C, Alonso WJ (2001) Deciding where to settle: conspecific attraction and web site selection in the orb-web spider Nephilengys cruentata Anim Behav 62:1007–1012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott CE, Anderson AG, Andrade MCB (2018) A review of the mechanisms and functional roles of male silk use in spider courtship and mating. J Arachnol 46:173–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segura DF, Viscarret MM, Paladino LZC, Ovruski SM, Cladera JL (2007) Role of visual information and learning in habitat selection by a generalist parasitoid foraging for concealed hosts. Anim Behav 74:131–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segura DF, Viscarret MM, Ovruski SM, Cladera JL (2012) Response of the fruit fly parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata to host and host-habitat volatile cues. Entomol Exp Appl 143:164–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker KA, Jones TH, Fell RD (1993) Pheromonal basis of aggregation in European earwig, Forficula auricularia L.(Dermaptera: Forficulidae). J Chem Ecol 19:2029–2038

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Woodbury N, Gries G (2008) Amber-colored excreta: a source of arrestment pheromone in firebrats, Thermobia domestica Entomol Exp Appl 127:100–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yano S (2008) Collective and solitary behaviors of two-spotted spider mite (Acari: Tetranychidae) are induced by trail following. Ann Entomol Soc Am 101:247–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yano S (2012) Cooperative web sharing against predators promotes group living in spider mites. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66:845–853

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge that this work was conducted in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. We thank T Peskett, S McCann, and all members of the INSECTA lab for assistance and support. This study was completed in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Bachelor of Science with Honours in the Department of Biology at Acadia University.

Funding

This work was supported by NSERC (RGPIN-2017-04319 to NKH), Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Atlantic Innovation Fund (197853 to NKH), Eco Canada, Acadia University, and the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Acadia University, 33 Westwood Avenue, Wolfville, NS, B4P 2R6, Canada

    Grace R. Bowen-MacLean, Catherine E. Scott & N. Kirk Hillier

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, ON, M1C 1A4, Canada

    Catherine E. Scott

Authors
  1. Grace R. Bowen-MacLean
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Catherine E. Scott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. N. Kirk Hillier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization: GRB, CES, NKH; Data collection and analyses: GRB, CES; Visualization of data: CES; Writing – original draft: GRB; Writing – review and editing: GRB, CES, NKH; Funding acquisition and resources: NKH.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Catherine E. Scott.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

We conducted this study in accordance with the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (no protocol number because approval is not required for arthropods). 

Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

ESM 1

(XLSX 9.64 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bowen-MacLean, G.R., Scott, C.E. & Hillier, N.K. Two-spotted Spider Mites Respond to Chemical Cues Associated with Conspecifics’ Silk When Choosing a Microhabitat. J Insect Behav 34, 271–279 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-021-09787-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-021-09787-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation