Leguminivora glycinivorella (Matsumura) (Tortricidae: Olethreutinae: Grapholitini)
Common name: soybean pod borer
Synonyms: anticipans (Laspeyresia), parastrepta (Laspeyresia), zygogramma (Laspeyresia)
FWL: 4.5–6.5 mm
Palpi relatively short, slightly upcurved. Head and thorax brown. Forewing brown and lightly dusted with pale coppery scales, becoming slightly lighter in overall color distally; ocellus present as three short black lines; eight pairs of short strigulae present along the costa, becoming more well-defined towards the apex; chalky gray-blue faintly present between strigulae and directed towards inner margin; fringe pale copper. Hindwing dark brown; hindwing fringe is white with a row of short dark brown scales at the base. Male with costal fold absent.
Male genitalia can be distinguished by the presence of paired scent organs filled with short black scales on the eighth abdominal sternite, which is characteristic of the genus (Horak 2006Horak 2006:
Horak, M. 2006. Olethreutine moths of Australia (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, Vol. 10. 522 pp.). Female genitalia are characterized by a narrow ostium, small sterigma, and paired, opposite-facing thorn-like signa.
Early instar larvae are orange-yellow, getting progressively whiter or greenish by the third instar, and orange to pink in the final instar. The prothoracic shield is brown and the head is black.
Several genera of Grapholitini, such as Aspila, Cydia and Grapholita have species that closely resemble Leguminivora glycinivorella. Dissection may be necessary to distinguish them.
Leguminivora glycinivorella is native to east Asia, including Siberia, northern China, Korea, and Japan.
The following account is summarized from Kobayashi et al. (1972)Kobayashi et al. (1972):
Kobayashi, T., Hasegawa, T., Kegasaw, K. 1972. Major insect pests of leguminous crops in Japan. Tropical Agriculture Research Series. 6: 109-126., Kobayashi (1976)Kobayashi (1976):
Kobayashi, T., 1976. Pod borers and the seed pest complex in Asian soybeans. In: Expanding the use of soybean. Proceedings of a conference for Asia and Oceania, Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 1976, [ed. by Goodman, R.M.]. Illinois, USA: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 171-173. and Kobayashi and Oku (1980)Kobayashi and Oku (1980):
Kobayashi, T., Oku, T., 1980. Sampling lepidopterous pod borers on soybean. In: Sampling methods in soybean entomology, [ed. by Kogan, M., Herzog, D.C.]. New York, USA: Springer-Verlag. 422-437..
One to two generations occur per year in Asia, depending on climate. In Japan, adults emerge in early to mid August and a second generation (if present) occurs in late September. Eggs hatch 7–9 days later and bore into the pods and eat the seeds (much in the same way as another grapholitine pest of Fabaceae treated on this site, Cydia nigricana). After finished feeding, larvae emerge from the pods to overwinter as mature larvae in the soil.
Larval hosts include representatives from the Leguminosae (Fabaceae), the most economically important of which is soybean (Glycine max). A few host records from other plant families exist, but these may represent accidental feeding records or misidentifications.
Authors: KA Austin, TM Gilligan, ME Epstein
Content last updated May 2025
idtools.org
TortAI tool images at ipmimages.org - ITP Node
