Tuta absoluta, Tomato Leaf Miner
Tuta absoluta is one of the most economically important pests of tomato and is posing a serious threat to the fruits production across the Mediterranean and African regions.
This pest is crossing borders rapidly and devastating tomato production substantially. Originating from South America, Tuta absoluta is finding the shores of the Mediterranean a perfect new home where it can breed between 10-12 generations in a year. The presence of Tuta absoluta has been reported in Italy, France, Malta, the United Kingdom, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Albania. Tuta absoluta has been an established pest of South America since the 1980’s.
Tuta absoluta has the ability to attack the tomato at all stages. That’s why Russell IPM have developed solutions to deal with this pest at various stages of infestation.
The Tomato leaf miner is a serious pest of tomato. This insect can also attack potato, aubergine, peppers and solanaceous weeds. It originated from South America and was recently detected in Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Larvae produce large galleries in leaves, burrow into stalks, apical buds and green and ripe fruits.
Tuta absoluta poses a serious threat to protected cultivation of tomato in the Mediterranean region. It is capable of reducing up to 80-100% of total crop yield. Russell IPM manufactures and supplies Tuta absoluta pheromone lure trap for monitoring, mass trapping and lure and kill solutions.

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Chidege, M., Al-Zaidi, S., Hassan, N., Abisgold, J., Kaaya, E., & Mrogoro, S. (2016) First record of tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta in Tanzania. Agriculture & Food Security 5:17
Insect pests have a devastating effect on food production. Such a phenomenon occurred in Ngabobo village, Ngarenanyuki, King’ori, in the Arumeru District of Tanzania, a key tomato production area, when boring Lepidoptera larvae were found on aerial parts of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants between 2014 and 2015. Larvae created blotched leaf galleries and superficial mines on fruits. The pest was identified as Tuta absoluta (Meyrick 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) by the leaf and fruit damage symptoms inflicted, the adult morphology as well as using specific pheromone traps (TUA optima lure) against adult male Tuta absoluta.
This is the first record of tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in Tanzania worth to report. This information will help to design sustainable management tactics against this notorious pest of tomato in the country and the neighbouring countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Hassan, N et al., (2015) Integrated Pest Management of the Tomato Leaf Miner, Tuta absoluta (Metric) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in Tomato Fields in Egypt. Egyptian journal of pest control 25(3):655-661 · October, 2015.
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) is universally one of the most important vegetable crops worldwide. In Egypt, the crop is cultivated annually in 2-3 plantations. The tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is one of the recent devastating pests attacking tomato crop in several countries. It is a new exotic pest in Egypt. A study to evaluate the efficacy of integrated control methods against the pest was carried out at Fayoum Governorate, Egypt in the tomato Nili plantation (September – December) of 2014. Based on the infestation reduction rate, release of the egg parasitoid, Trichogrammatoidea bactrae + mass trapping (plot B) showed best results, followed by the application with Biotrine and Fytomax + mass trapping (plot A) and lastly use of insecticides (control) (plot C): Respective seasonal rate of infestation was 9.2, 11.1 and 29.3%. Highest yield production and cost benefits were recorded in plot (B).
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