First record of the soybean stem fly Melanagromyza sojae (Diptera: Agromyzidae) in the Brazilian Savannah

Abstract

The soybean stem fly [Melanagromyza sojae (Diptera: Agromyzidae)] is a pest widely distributed in the Asian continent. In Brazil, its occurrence has been reported since the 1980s, but it had not been reported in Brazilian Savannah areas yet. This is the first record of M. sojae in this region of great importance for the soybean world production. Specimens of the soybean stem fly were collected in a volunteer soybean area, in April 2018, in the Goiás state, Brazil, and sent for molecular identification. The similarity index of the collected specimens with M. sojae was higher than 99 %, thus confirming the identification of the species. The infestation level in the collection area was approximately 100 % of plants with damage caused by this insect. In Brazil, the occurrence of M. sojae, up to the present time, had been described as restricted to the southern states. This record raises the hypothesis that M. sojae is widespread in other agricultural areas of the Brazilian Savannah, and that its dissemination is favored by the maintenance of volunteer soybean.

Research Article First record of the soybean stem fly <i>Melanagromyza</i> <i>sojae</i> (Diptera: Agromyzidae) in Bolivia

“…The municipalities where M. sojae was reported are located in the Santa Cruz department, the largest soybean national producer (ANAPO, 2016); therefore, the presence of this pest represents a high risk for national soybean production, due to its high potential to cause yield losses as reported in other regions of the world (Suwanpornsakul et al, 1996;Van den Berg et al, 1998;Jadhav et al, 2013). Furthermore, Santa Cruz department borders the Brazilian Savannah region, where the presence of M. sojae has been recently confirmed on soybean fields (Czepak et al, 2018) and may have served as a geographical path of incursion for the pest.…”

Highly diverse and rapidly spreading: Melanagromyza sojae threatens the soybean belt of South America

“…Among the long list of arthropod invasions in South America is included the soybean stem fly, Melanagromyza sojae (Zehnter) (Diptera: Agromyzidae). Native to East Asia (Spencer 1973), this species was confirmed as occurring in Southern Brazil in 2015 (Arnemann et al 2016a) and Central-West Brazil in 2018 (Czepak et al 2018), but is probably present in the country since 1983 (Gassen and Schneider 1985). Field reports also indicate that the pest has reached Brazilian states of Minas Gerais (Southeast region) and Bahia (Northeast region) (CESB 2018).…”

Climatic niche shift and distribution of Melanagromyza sojae under current and future climate scenarios: does this species pose a risk to soybean production?

“…Although individuals belonging to the genus Melanagromyza were previously recorded in soybeans fields in Brazil in 1983 (Gassen & Schneider, 1985) and 2009 (Link et al, 2009), the presence of M. sojae was only confirmed in the country in 2015 based on specimens collected in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil (Anermann et al, 2016). Subsequently, M. sojae was found in the Brazilian Cerrado, in the state of Goiás (Czepak et al, 2018), and in Paraguay (Guedes et al, 2017), Bolivia (Vitorio et al, 2019), and Argentina (Vera et al, 2021), indicating the potential of this species spreading to the major soybean‐producing areas in South America.…”