Sex dimorphism is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom and can be influenced by environmental factors. However, relatively little is known about how the degree and direction of sex difference vary with environmental factors, including food quality and temperature. With the spider mites from the family Tetranychidae as subjects, the sex difference of life-history traits in responses to host plant and temperature were determined in this meta-analytic review. Across the 42 studies on 26 spider mite species (N = 8057 and 3922 for female and male mites, respectively), female spider mites showed longer developmental duration than the males in all except two species. The direction of sex difference in development was consistent regardless of temperature and host plant. The 16 spider mite species in 33 studies generally showed female-biased longevity, with an overall effect size of 0.6043 [95%CI = 0.4054–0.8031]. Host plant significantly influenced the sex difference in longevity, where the males lived longer than females below 22.5 ℃, but the reverse was true at higher and fluctuating temperature. Host plant also influenced the magnitude of sex difference in longevity, with females living longer than males when reared on herbs but not on trees. This study indicated that life-history traits are highly variable between sexes under temperature and host plant influence, highlighting that environmental conditions can significantly shape the direction and magnitude of sexual dimorphism of life-history traits.

性别二态性在动物界普遍存在，并且会受到环境因素的影响。然而，人们对性别差异的程度和方向如何随环境因素（包括食品质量和温度）的变化知之甚少。以叶螨科叶螨为研究对象，本荟萃分析确定了生活史性状对寄主植物和温度响应的性别差异。在 26 种蜘蛛螨的 42 项研究中（N = 8057 和 3922（雌性和雄性螨分别为 8057 和 3922），除两个物种外，雌性蜘蛛螨的发育持续时间均比雄性长。无论温度和寄主植物如何，性别差异的发展方向都是一致的。33 项研究中的 16 种蜘蛛螨通常显示出女性偏向的长寿，总体效应大小为 0.6043 [95% CI = 0.4054–0.8031]。寄主植物显着影响寿命的性别差异，在22.5 ℃以下，雄性比雌性寿命更长，但在较高和波动的温度下则相反。寄主植物也影响寿命的性别差异程度，当用草本而不是在树上饲养时，雌性比雄性寿命更长。