Studies at that time showed that the nematode had been present in Japan since 1881. The soybean cyst nematode was first reported in the United States in 1954 and in Canada in 1987. Soybean cyst nematodes are completely sedentary except for a small amount of movement by juveniles and adult males which may amount to only a few centimetres. As a result, a new infestation of soybean cyst nematode is usually caused by the movement of cysts from infested fields to non-infested fields, by means such as machinery, birds or wind. Over 1,100 species of plants are reported as potential hosts for the soybean cyst nematode.
Many species merely allow the nematode to survive until a more susceptible host becomes available.
Soybean, Glycine max , is the only major economic crop severely affected. The life cycle of the soybean cyst nematode consists of three stages- egg, larva and adults. Soybean cyst nematode eggs do not rely on the presence of soybean plants to stimulate hatching, though larval emergence is enhanced by the presence of soybean plants. Once hatched, the larvae undergo three additional larval stages the first occurring within the egg. As eggs develop within the female, her body becomes pear-shaped, with a short anterior neck and a prominent posterior vulva.