Michigan's last notable infestation occurred in August of 1993. The two-spotted spider mite is a very tiny but destructive pest. These mites are greenish yellow to orange and have two distinct black spots on each side of the body. Mites are not insects, they are more closely related to spiders and ticks. They have no wings but have six legs when first hatched and eight legs as nymphs and when mature.
Mouthparts are of the piercing-sucking type.
All stages live on the undersides of leaves where they probe directly into the plant cells and remove the liquid contents. A very fine silk webbing can often be found on the underside of leaves heavily infested with mites. In soybeans, damage first appears as yellow speckling around the leaf veins at the base of the leaf. As damage progresses, the yellowing moves toward the leaf tip and leaves take on a bronzed color on the upper surface. Leaves eventually turn brown and prematurely drop from the plant.