Soya Pests

Soybean Looper

Source: Clemson University – USDA Co-op Ext Slide Series

Common Names: Includes Soybean Looper, Velvet Bean Caterpillar, Green Clover Worm, Webworm, Armyworms
Latin Names: Pseudoplusia includens, Anticarsia gemmatalis, Plathypena scabra
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae; Plathypena: Erebidae (formerly Noctuidae)

Main Host(s): Soybean and other legume crops, but for some species also large variety of other host plants including cotton, tobacco and vegetables.

Life Cycle

The Velvet Bean Caterpillar is tropical and subtropical with wide distribution, occurring from the southern U.S. to Argentina. It is considered an important pest in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina. Soybean Looper occurs from the U.S. to southern South America. In the northern U.S., growers can find Alfalfa Caterpillars. The pest mix can include not only the Soybean Looper and Velvet Bean Caterpillar, but also the Green Clover Worm, Webworm and Armyworm species.

Many of these pests migrate, and in a variety of combinations they impact most soybean regions in North and South America. The adults move into soybean fields in mid- to late summer, and some species (Loopers) will lay eggs singly with many hundreds of eggs per female. Egg hatch is between 3-7 days depending on temperature. The number of larval stages may vary per species and field conditions but is usually around six. The Velvet Bean Caterpillar has green and dark colored forms. Many of the soybean pest caterpillars are defoliators and especially the older larvae in large numbers can defoliate plants. Some species such as the Soybean Looper start feeding on the lower half of the crop and move upward.