The passion fruit plant is a host for several different phytophagous mites, mainly those belonging to the Tarsonemidae, Tenuipalpidae and Tetranychidae families. Among the Tetranychidae species are Tetranychus mexicanus (McGregor, 1950) and Tetranychus desertorum Banks, 1900. The occurrence of Tetranychus marianae McGregor, 1950 was detected on yellow passion fruit Passiflora edulis Sims f. flavicarpa Degener plants under field and greenhouse conditions at the headquarters of Embrapa Cassava & Fruits Tropical Research in Cruz das Almas County, State of Bahia, Northeast Brazil. Prior records of T. marianae on the passion fruit crop in Brazil as well as the biological aspects of this species are unknown. The study on the biology of T. marianae on P. edulis f. flavicarpa was carried out under controlled environmental condition of 25 ± 1ºC temperature, 80 ± 10% RH and 12 hours photophase. The egg to adult time span lasted 10.73 ± 0.18 days, with a 92% survival figure. The sexual ratio was 81% females. The mean female longevity was 24.53 days and the daily mean oviposition was 3.69 eggs/female. The intrinsic rate of increase (r m) was 0.172; the finite rate of increase (l) was 1.187 individuals/female/day; the mean time span of one generation (T) was 22.81 days; and the net rate of reproduction (Ro) was 50.14.
Fertility; life table; mite; Passiflora sp
