Host plant resistance to herbivores is usually measured by visual screening in the field, which is very expensive. We tested an alternative method using 26 varieties of tea,Camellia sinensis, selected from different geographical locations to screen for resistance against the red and black flat mite,Brevipalpus phoenicis(Geijskes); survival and logistically fixed net fecundity schedules (predicted number F1offspring) were compared. Survival schedules of the mites varied among the different varieties, as indicated by a change in the concavity of the survivorship curves and measured in terms of entropy. Varieties were classified according to their level of resistance/susceptibility based on the number of predicted F1offspring. The level of susceptibility was positively correlated with life expectancy and was negatively related to entropy. Varieties that evolved from northeast India were consistently less susceptible, which suggests that a search in this region to identifY genes for resistance might be useful for future breeding programs.