Biochemical Genetics of Resistance to Aryl Carbamate Insecticides in the Predaceous Mite, Metaseiulus occidentalis12

Abstract

The mechanism of insecticide resistance, the inheritance of resistance, and crossresistance to different insecticides were investigated in a carbaryl-resistant strain of the predaceous mite, Metaseiulus occidentalis (Nesbitt). Resistance extends to the aryl carbamate insecticide propoxur and the benzimidazolecarbamate fungicide benomyl, but not to the oxime carbamate insecticide methomyl or to noncarbamate insecticides. Resistance appears to be related to high levels of oxidative detoxification, which seems to be present even in the egg stage. Genetic analyses showed that the resistance is primarily due to a single, incompletely dominant gene. Carbamate resistance in M. occidentalis seems very similar to that observed previously in insects.