A native North American moth commonly found in forested areas, the soybean tentiform leafminer has expanded its diet. The insect was first sighted in Canadian soybean fields in 2016. Robert Koch, University of Minnesota Extension Entomologist, identified the soybean tentiform leafminer in Minnesota in 2021. And now it has also been found in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska soybeans.
“The soybean tentiform leafminer is a tiny moth whose larvae, or caterpillars, live inside and feed on soybean leaves,” explains Koch. “Through their feeding, the caterpillars are hollowing out, or mining, the leaf tissue and then those tissues die, reducing the plant’s ability for photosynthesis. A single caterpillar doesn’t destroy a large area within a plant, but over a season, the damage will add up from numerous caterpillars and multiple generations of the moth.”
Koch and Extension Educator Angie Peltier are evaluating the magnitude of the soybean tentiform leafminer threat and control methods in a project supported by the Rapid Agricultural Response Fund. Learn more about this research in this Soybean Research & Information Network story.