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Department of Agriculture

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  1. Home
  2. Biosecurity and trade
  3. Biosecurity
  4. Biosecurity in Australia
  5. Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS)
  6. NAQS target pests, diseases and weeds
  7. Vegetable leaf miner

Sidebar first - Biosecurity

  • Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS)
    • Co-operative biosecurity in northern Australia
    • Aircraft arriving on the Australian mainland from Torres Strait
    • NAQS target pests, diseases and weeds
    • Moving goods to, from and within Torres Strait
    • Significant events in the history of NAQs
      • Celebrating 30 years of co-operative biosecurity in northern Australia
      • Commemorating 25 years of NAQS
    • Shipping and yachting in the Torres Strait
    • Map of NAQS zones

Vegetable leaf miner

​​​Liriomyza sativae

What to look for

Leaves with long, white meandering trails (mines) on the leaf surface.

Image of Liriomyza sativae (vegetable leaf miner)

What you can do

  • Do not move plants, plant material or fresh vegetables out of the Torres Strait Protected Zone to the Torres Strait Permanent Biosecurity Monitoring Zone, or from either zone to mainland Australia without a permit and an inspection by a Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment biosecurity officer. ​
  • Report any signs of vegetable leafminer to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment by phone on +61 7 4241 7800 or email NAQS.

Image of warning signs

Profile

Vegetable leafminer is a tiny black and yellow fly that attacks many different vegetables as well as ornamentals and cotton plants. The fly lays eggs into the leaves and larvae make tunnels inside the leaf as they feed.

Vegetable leafminer damage on a pumpkin plant
Vegetable leafminer damage on a pumpkin plant

Image of an adult that grow to 2 mm long
Image shows an adult leaf miner that grows to 2 mm long

Identification

Leafminer damage is a meandering track under the surface of the leaf. The track is white, often with an obvious trail of dark waste material inside.

Distribution

North, Central America and Caribbean, South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Australia (Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York).

Threat

This pest is a significant threat to our cotton and vegetable industries, as well as our home gardens.

Keep a Top Watch!

Plants, plant material and vegetables are prohibited from entering Australia or moving south from Torres Strait without a permit from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Alert the department if you see tracks in the leaves of castor oil plants or vegetables such as tomatoes, pumpkins, lettuce or melons.

 Vegetable leafminer damage on a tomato plant
Vegetable leafminer damage on a tomato plant

Vegetable leafminer damage on a castor oil plant
Vegetable leafminer damage on a castor oil plant

Report white, wavy tracks in the leaves of tomatoes and other vegetables.

General enquiries

Call 1800 900 090

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Report a biosecurity concern

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Last updated: 02 June 2020

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.