Afterwards, it was recorded from Gwalior and Madhya Pradesh in India showing infestation and serious damage to crops like okra and cucurbits (i.e., smooth gourd, bottle gourd, pumpkin, and cucumber) (Baker and Pritchard 1960). The red spider mite, Tetranychus macfarlanei Baker & Pritchard was first described from Mauritius and Africa based on the specimens collected from beans, pumpkin and Hibiscus spp. Tetranychus urticae Koch is the most notorious species worldwide with a host range of 1200 plant species including fruit orchards, vegetable crops and ornamentals (Helle and Sabelis 1985 Migeon and Dorkeld 2022). Spider mites of the family Tetranychidae are potential pests cause considerable damage and yield loss in a wide economically plant species globally. longispinosus hardly consumed any of the T.

Surprisingly, irrespective of the life stage differences, N. macfarlanei, the same could be found as egg>larva=nymph>adult. urticae and could be recorded as egg>larva>nymph>adult. On the contrary, the predatory nymphal stage exhibited different trend in feeding preference towards the life stages of T. The order of feeding preference of adult female predator towards different life stages of both the spider mite species were identified as egg>nymph>larva>adult. The larval stage of the predator was found to be non-feeding, thus excluded from the feeding experiment.

After 24 hr of feeding experiment, the nymph and adult female predator exhibited a significant preference in feeding towards the eggs of T. Feeding experiments were conducted using the phytoseiid predatory mite, Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans) on mulberry leaf discs under the laboratory conditions of 30☒✬, 70±5% Relative Humidity (RH) and a photoperiod of 11 L: 14 D h. Evaluation of predatory potential and prey stage preference could provide invaluable information on the predatory efficiency of any predators. As an ecofriendly pest management strategy, biocontrol using phytoseiid predatory mites are gaining significant attention over the past few decades. Among the agriculturally important spider mite species, Tetranychus urticae Koch and Tetranychus macfarlanei Baker & Pritchard severely affect crop production and incur heavy yield loss in agriculture sector. Spider mites are considered as a potential threat to varying agricultural crops across the globe.

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