A pest out-of-place: two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Tetranychidae), on coffee plants

Brazil is the largest world coffee (Coffea spp.) producer. Espírito Santo stands out as the largest Brazilian producing state of Coffea canephora, which is commonly intercropped with papaya (Carica papaya L.) in the first two years of the establishment of the cultivation. The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Tetranychidae), is considered a pest in papaya, but not in coffee crops. We here report an unusual occurrence of this mite on coffee plants, causing significant damage in fields where they are intercropped with papaya in that state. Mites at different developmental stages were found on the underside of young coffee leaves, producing profuse webbing, causing leaf malformation, necrosis and premature fall. The intercrop of papaya with other crops may lead to the need to adopt measures to control the two-spotted spider mite on the associated crop, even when the latter is known as an unfavorable host to this mite species.