The TSSM is one of the most destructive pests on various orchard trees and garden plants. Abamectin resistance mechanisms in two resistant TSSM strains (PTF, ca. 155-fold; AbaR, ca. 3700-fold) were investigated with an emphasis on target site insensitivity mechanism. Detoxification enzyme assays revealed that metabolic factors contributed by EST and/or P450are involved in abamectin resistance. Synergistic assays showed that enhanced detoxification enzyme activity is not enough to account for the high level of abamectin resistance, further suggestive of the involvement of additional resistance mechanism, most likely target site insensitivity. As a putative target site for abamectin, we cloned the cDNA fragments of glutamate-gated chloride channel (Tuglucl) and determined its full length nucleotide sequences. Amino acid sequence comparison among the four strains showed that the Gly323Asp mutation located in the third transmembrane domainis only found in the AbaR strain, suggesting it is likely associated with the target site insensitivity conferring a high level of abamectin resistance.