Serpentine Leaf Miner, Essay Example

Vegetables form a significant part of the human diet due to their richness in minerals and vitamins. Australia grows a wide range of vegetables that serve domestic and commercial purposes. Major crops include onions, zucchini, beans, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, capsicums, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and tomatoes (Elkhouly et al., 2020, p. 8). The conducive production environment and large geographic spread in the country enhance the growth of vegetables. Various factors determine crop yield. The serpentine leaf miner poses a threat to crop production and the nursing industry in Australia. The pest is a small fly whose larvae feed on the inside parts of plant leaves. The feeding causes serious mine damage to the crops, which later dry up. Besides, it is a highly polyphagous species that damage a wide range of hosts, including ornamental plant species and horticultural crops. Host preferences for the pest vary depending on host availability, location, and production practices. Common crops and ornamental crops affected include celery, cabbages, pumpkins, potato, tomatoes, tobacco, fava bean, onion, garlic, cucumbers, spinach, soybean, alfalfa, beans, and peas ((Mhatre et al.,2022, p. 809). The pest also affects important weeds, including Solanum nigrum L and black nightshade.

Identification of the Pest

Liriomyza huidobrensis, commonly referred to as the serpentine leaf miner, is an insect species in the family of Agromyzidae. The larvae and adults of serpentine leaf miners feed on and damage plant foliage. The larva is mainly a leafminer. However, it also feeds on the outer part of young pods in peas. The initial signs of the presence of the pest on a farm include leaf mines feeding punctures on plant leaves. Adults feed on the leaf tissue and lay eggs on them, thus puncturing them. On the other hand, newly hatched larvae feed on the chloroplast-rich mesophyll. As they mine into the leaf to reach the mesophyll, they produce serpentine mines that increase in diameter as the larvae grow. The fully grown larvae settle near the midrib. The leaf tissue becomes necrotic and turns brownish. Later, it dries up and dies. Crop fields highly infested with pests appear burned. The nature of the mine formed differs among host plants and depends on multiple factors, including the leaf’s physiological and physical condition and the number of larvae feeding from each leaf. Besides, the pest’s morphology varies depending on its developmental stage. Its eggs are round and translucent. The larvae are colorless at the time of hatching but slowly turn to pale yellow-orange. Later instars assume that yellow-orange color. The pest’s pupa is oval with a slightly flat body that varies in size. Lastly, the adults are black flies with small bodies. They have a wing length of about 1.7 to 2.3 mm. The flies also have bright yellow spots spread around the thorax.

Distribution of the Pest

Liriomyza huidobrensis is widely distributed across different parts globally. The pest in present in America, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In Africa, the pest is distributed in Kenya, Morocco, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, the Canary Islands, Comoros, and Mauritius. In Asia, the pest is widely spread in countries such as India, Malaysia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Lebanon, and China (Mujica et al., 2016, p. 117). The pest also affects crop production in several parts of Europe, Oceania and Central America, and the Caribbean. The serpentine leaf miner is an agricultural pest endemic to South America. The pest has been distributed across the world since the 1980s.

The Life Cycle of the Pest

The serpentine leaf miner undergoes several stages to complete its lifecycle. The stages include the egg, larvae, pupae, and adult. A female hatches an egg and inserts it beneath the leaf surface of a host plant. The egg hatches after two to three days. The eggs are tiny and may not be visible to the naked eye. The eggs develop into larvae. After hatching, the larvae appear colorless and turn yellow-orange as they develop (Ghelani et al., 2020). The larvae feed within the lead and create mines that widen as the larvae mature. The larvae develop in three larval stages within a span of four to seven days (Capinera, 2001, p. 1). Once it is mature, the larva forms a puparium in the soil below the host plant. Drought and high humidity greatly affect the pupariation process (Ravipati et al., 2020, p. 2262). The pupa matures after seven to fourteen days and develops into an adult fly. The lifecycle of the serpentine leaf miner lasts between thirteen and twenty-six days. Temperature plays a key role in the timing of the pest’s lifecycle completion.

Controlling the Pest

The best way to control the serpentine leaf miner is to prevent its entry into a property. The first method is to purchase planting stock from accredited suppliers. Farmers must inspect all incoming stock for weeds, diseases, and pests. They should also separate all incoming stock from existing crops until they have confirmed that they are infested with the pest. Close monitoring of crops in the fields also helps to identify the pest on time. Monitoring should also involve inspecting the weeds surrounding crop fields and clearing those known to host the pest. Chemical options can also be used for pest control. The use of systemic and translaminar insecticides is effective in controlling the pests since they reach the larvae living inside the leaf.

References

Capinera, J.L., 2001. American Serpentine Leafminer, Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess)(Insecta: Diptera: Agromyzidae). IFAS Extension. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, pp.1-5.

Elkhouly, A.R., Hireereeq, E.A.A., Albasha, M. and Shafsha, H.A., 2020. Population abundance of the serpentine leaf miner Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess)(Diptera: Agromyzidae) on four winter host plants. Asian Journal of Agricultural and Horticultural Research, 7(2), pp.8-15.

Ghelani, M.K., Kabaria, B.B., Shah, K.D. and Ghelani, Y.H., 2020. Biology of serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess) on tomato. Jounal ofentomology andzoology studies, 8(4), pp.1639-1642.

Mhatre, P.H., Thube, S.H., Navik, O., Venkatasalam, E.P., Sharma, S., Patil, J., Subhash, S., Divya, K.L., Watpade, S., Pandian, T.P. and Shah, M.A., 2022. Outbreak and Management of Serpentine Leaf Miner, Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard)(Diptera: Agromyzidae), on Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Crop in India. Potato Research, 65(4), pp.809-827.

Mujica, N., Carhuapoma, P., Kroschel, J. and Minierfliege, S., 2016. 4.3 Vegetable pests.

Ravipati, N.S.N., Shukla, A. and Sahu, B., 2020. influence of weather parameters on the incidence of serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess) on tomato. Int. J. Curr. Microbiol. App. Sci, 9(5), pp.2260-2265.