Abstract: Abstract: In order to achieve a rapid, accurate, non-destructive, in-situ detection of Panonychus citri (McGregor) infestation levels to the fruit trees, a Panonychus citri (McGregor) fast detector based on optical measurement techniques was designed and developed in this study. The instrument's working effect was tested through experiments. The optical reflection method was adopted by the detector as the detection principle, and the tree canopy's light reflectance in the red and near-infrared light zone was measured. The Panonychus citri (McGregor) index (PCI) was introduced in this study as the equipment output and was calculated in accordance with the measured reflectance. Furthermore, the Panonychus citri (McGregor) infestation status at a tree's selected canopy outer area was divided into three levels as None, Light, and Heavy based on the number of eggs on top of the leaves within a specific region at the tree canopy's outer area. The relationship between the infestation levels of the regions and their corresponding PCI readings was analyzed. In the hardware design, light emitting diode (LED) arrays having center wavelengths of 665nm and 815nm were selected as the red and near-infrared light sources. Natural light interference at the detector was mostly reduced by using a 40 kHz light modulation/demodulation technology, a specially designed optical path, and a photoelectric detection adapting circuit. Results from the instrument's working effect test indicated that: the detection coefficient k equals to 2.622; the detection was less slightly affected by the foliage density; the detection was less affected by the natural environmental light, but was affected by the temperature to some extent; the three Panonychus citri (McGregor) infestation levels as None, Light and Heavy could be distinguished by the detector, and when the infestation level was low, the result was stable. High correlation was achieved between the detector's PCI reading and the number of eggs on top of a piece of leaf, which indicated that the relationship between Panonychus citri (McGregor) infestation level and the egg number achieved in this study was consistent with previous experiments. Further research will test a temperature-compensation method to reduce the influence of temperature on the detection results. Reasons for lower-stability detection in the Heavy level of infestation will also be analyzed.