red spider
A small red spider-like mite (Tetranychus or Acarus telarius) infesting plants, especially in hothouses. (See also quot. 1824.)
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxv. Table, Of the Tainct or small red Spider. 1793 Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) V. 58 Destroying the Red Spider and other noxious insects. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 161 The red-spider (Erythræus telarius) spinning its web over the under surface of the leaves draws out their juices with its rostrum. 1824 Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) §2271 The red spider is the Acarus telarius, and the same name is also applied by gardeners to the scarlet acarus (A. holosericeus), the only two British species of the genus which infest plants. 1871 H. Macmillan True Vine v. 232 In this country, the greatest pest of the vinery is the little red spider, whose movements over the leaves and fruit are exceedingly nimble. |