Two-spotted spider mite reared on resistant eggplant affects consumption rate and life table parameters of its predator, Typhlodromus bagdasarjani (Acari: Phytoseiidae) Mostafa Khanamani • Yaghoub Fathipour • Hamidreza Hajiqanbar • Amin Sedaratian Received: 23 January 2012 / Accepted: 22 February 2014 / Published online: 6 March 2014 Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 Abstract The study of interactions between host plant cultivars and biological control agents is important in integrated pest management programs. In this study, the life table parameters and predation rate of Typhlodromus bagdasarjani Wainstein & Arutunjan were determined on two-spotted spider mites reared on a susceptible (Isfahan) or a resistant (Neishabour) eggplant cultivar. All experiments were carried out under laboratory con- ditions, at 25 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 5 % RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h. A significant difference was observed between mean developmental time of immature stages of T. bagdasarjani on the two eggplant cultivars: 6.6 versus 7.5 days, on the susceptible and resistant cultivar, respectively. Net reproductive rate (R 0 ) of T. bagdasarjani did not differ between the cultivars. Doubling time on the susceptible and resistant cultivars was 3.48 versus 5.72 days, mean generation time (T) was 10.13 versus 16.08 days, respectively. Total fecundity was higher on susceptible than on resistant eggplants, the intrinsic rate of population increase (r) was 0.188 versus 0.119 day -1 , respectively. Daily and total prey consumption of various life stages of T. bagdasarjani on two-spotted spider mite reared on susceptible versus resistant eggplant differed; total consumption was higher on spider mites reared on the resistant cultivar. However, the lower intrinsic rate of increase and higher mortality of the predator on the resistant eggplant (Neishabour) revealed that more attention should be devoted to integrated control of spider mites using resistant cultivars and phytoseiid mites. Keywords Two-spotted spider mite  Life table  Predation rate  Tritrophic interactions  Typhlodromus bagdasarjani  Tetranychus urticae M. Khanamani  Y. Fathipour (&)  H. Hajiqanbar Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, PO Box 14115-336, Tehran, Iran e-mail: fathi@modares.ac.ir A. Sedaratian Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran 123 Exp Appl Acarol (2014) 63:241–252 DOI 10.1007/s10493-014-9785-z Author's personal copy