Essential oils from the leaves of Bauhinia rufa and B. dumosa collected from the Cerrado biome in central Brazil were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed using GC and GC/MS. Both oils had a predominance of sesquiterpenes (B. rufa: 95.3 ± 0.5%; B. dumosa: 97.2 ± 1.1%). β-Caryophyllene (15.8 ± 0.5%), epi-α-cadinol (12.8 ± 0.4%), γ-muurolene (12.2 ± 0.4%) and α-cadinol (10.0 ± 0.5%) were identified as the major constituents of the B. rufa oil, whereas germacrene B (37.6 ± 1.2%) and (E)-nerolidol (29.1 ± 0.6%) were the major constituents of the B. dumosa oil. Both oils were toxic to Tetranychus urticae by fumigation (B. rufa: LC50 = 2.76 µL/L of air; B. dumosa: LC50 = 0.97 µL/L of air) and residual contact (B. rufa: LC50 = 30.46 µL/mL; B. dumosa: LC50 = 16.44 µL/mL). The results of the two-choice method revealed that the oils affect the behavior of the mite, interfering in its feeding and egg-laying preferences.