Effect of pesticides on spiders occurring on apple and citrus in Israel

Field experiments in an apple orchard and in a citrus grove were carried out to evaluate the effect of four commercial pesticides in common use in Israel against apple and citrus pests, on the spider populations inhabiting the trees. The spider populations on apple were markedly suppressed by the pesticides, the order of toxicity being Talstar (biphenate) >Mavrik (fluvalinate) > Smash (fenpropathrin) > Dursban (chlorpyrifos). When grapefruit trees were treated with carbaryl + formothion, 232 spiders were sampled in the unsprayed plot, 55 days after treatment, as compared with only 11 spiders in the treated plot. Two and 7 days after treatment with chlorobenzilate, the sample from the treated plot numbered 68 and 55 spiders, respectively, as compared with 50 spiders collected 24 h before treatment. In addition, laboratory tests were carried out to determine the susceptibility of the spiderChiracanthium mildei L. Koch to 17 pesticides. When the spiders were exposed to grapefruit leaves which had been dipped 1 h previously for 5 sec in the aqueous emulsions of the pesticides, chlorpyrifos, fenpropathrin, fenvalerate, phosphamidon and biphenate caused 100%, and cypermethrin and fluvalinate 60% mortality, whereas all the other pesticides tested - acaricides, fungicides and herbicides - caused about 10-40% mortality.