Quick identification of Tetranychus spider mites using morphological characters and RFLP technology
Tetranychus spider mites are so small that only a few morphological characteristics are useful for identification. Moreover, phenotypic plasticity and biological differentiation aggravate the situation when using traditional methods. Consequently, the identification of Tetranychus species has been controversial over the past few decades. We identified Tetranychus species from different hosts and geographic regions by combining morphological classification with RFLP-PCR technology-based molecular identification. We show that the combination of these two methods can accurately identify T. ludeni, T. phaselus, T. kanzawai, T. urticae, T. truncatus, and T. piercei. This combined method provides a rapid and accurate means of identifying Tetranychus species.