| Bean pod borer | |
|---|---|
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| Sinharaja Forest, Viharahena, Sri Lanka | |
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Crambidae |
| Genus: | Maruca |
| Species: | M. vitrata |
| Binomial name | |
| Maruca vitrata (Fabricius, 1787) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Maruca vitrata is apantropical insect pest ofleguminous crops likepigeon pea,cowpea,mung bean andsoybean. Its common names include themaruca pod borer,bean pod borer,soybean pod borer,mung moth, and thelegume pod borer. The species was first described byJohan Christian Fabricius in 1787.
It can cause losses of 20–80% on the harvests of cowpeas.[1]
Its feeding sites on plants are flower buds, flowers and young pods. In some cases earlyinstars feed on flowerpeduncles and young stems.
Someparasitoids have been shown to serve as a biological control forMaruca vitrata.Parasitoid wasps families includeBraconidae andIchneumonidae; someparasitoid flies in theTachinidae are also natural enemies of the moth.[2]M. vitrata prefers to lay its eggs on the flowering bodies of the cowpea plant. Efforts have been made to deterM. vitrata from reproducing on the plant ranging frompesticides to a chemical specifically designed to sterilize the moth.[3]
Worldwide in the tropics. Asia, Africa, North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, Australia & Oceania.[4]
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