Abstract
I consider spider mites, and other mite groups, to be excellent material for evolutionary ecology and genetic studies, because of their low mobility, rapid development, ease of rearing, diverse genetic systems, and variable ecology. Using spider mites, we have revealed various topics in evolutionary ecology: (1) spider mites have variable (communal social and sub-social) life types, thus variable ecologies on plant leaves; (2) cooperation and aggressiveness vary among spider mite species, making them promising material for the study of natural selection operating on behaviour; (3) despite their haplo-diploid genetic system, spider mites have retained female-limited recessive genes that cause inbreeding depression; (4) life-type diversity of spider mites has evolved partly through interactions with predators; and (5) speciation is thought to have occurred through a shift in host plants and the accompanying differences in predation pressure. Here, I review my 30 years of work to show the useful and unique aspects of spider mites and to point out problems that had – and still need – to be solved in order to learn how spider mites can become useful as an object for evolutionary study
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