Dangerous fruit fly found

A fly related to oriental fruit flies, which are known to devastate crops, was trapped Monday.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published July 13, 2007

A paper Jackson trap the USDA set in a sweet orange tree in a Valrico neighborhood, caught an Oriental fruit fly on Monday.
	[Times photo: Melissa Lyttle]

ADVERTISEMENT [California Department of Food & Agriculture.] Oriental fruit flies feed on more than 100 types of fruits and vegetables, including citrus. Females lay eggs under the skin. Hatched larvae will tunnel through pulp, causing rotting. » Fast Facts Oriental fruit fly Species name: Bactrocera dorsalis Size: 6 to 8 millimeters Origin: Asia and the Pacific islands Lifespan: 1-3 months Hosts: The female lays her eggs in about 140 species of fruits and vegetables, including kumquat, orange, grapefruit, mango, tomato and guava. Source: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

VALRICO - Inspectors trapped a rare and potentially destructive fruit fly in an orange tree this week, triggering state and federal investigations.

But agriculture officials had not found any others by Thursday, after four days of aggressive trapping in an 81-square-mile area surrounding an eastern Hillsborough County neighborhood. The fly was a close relative of an oriental fruit fly, which can devastate citrus groves.

"It causes us concern, but not enough to go into any kind of panic mode," state agriculture department spokesman Mark Fagan said. "We feel better and better each day."

Daily trap checks will continue in the area through the weekend, he said. If inspectors don't find additional fruit flies, they will return to checking traps weekly.

Officials don't know how the single male fly, native to Southeast Asia and neighboring Pacific Islands, got to Florida, or whether his mate came along.

"We'll probably never know for sure how it got here," Fagan said. "It's most likely some kind of hitchhiker."

And officials can't pinpoint its species with only one sample.

The good news: Aerial pesticide sprays, used in central Florida to combat Mediterranean fruit fly infestations a decade ago, and fruit quarantines are unlikely, he said.

And it's a male fly, rather than the more insidious female that lays thousands of eggs.

Oriental fruit flies feed on more than 100 types of fruits and vegetables, including citrus. Females lay eggs under the skin. Hatched larvae will tunnel through pulp, causing rotting.

Agriculture officers stepped up their local trapping Monday, after a U.S. Department of Agriculture technician found the fruit fly in a trap on Laurel Oak Drive in Valrico.

Since then, they have added 162 new traps to the 243 existing traps in the 81-square-mile area surrounding the neighborhood.

As he drove into his driveway Thursday, Robert Ohanesian, 73, said he was anxious to hear the results of the increased trapping.

Inspectors placed a trap in one of his orange trees more than a year ago, he said, and found the oriental fruit fly there Monday. Ohanesian said he was happy to do whatever he could to help protect the trees.

"I love them, and my neighbors love them too," he said. "It's the best orange juice in the world."

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2454.

[Last modified July 13, 2007, 03:17:00]