Medfly Reported Trapped in Coronado

A male Mediterranean fruit fly was trapped Monday in Coronado, prompting San Diego County agriculture officials to blanket most of the island with sex-lure traps.

Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Ray Rinder said the destructive pest was found on the west side of the island in a trap placed on a Philippine orange tree.

Rinder said that because single trappings are not unusual, county officials are not strongly concerned about the find. There are no plans to initiate eradication procedures unless the new traps reveal other flies, he said.

Rinder said another fly was trapped last year in the county, prompting several hundred traps to be placed around the core area where the pest was found, but no additional flies were trapped.

When a Mediterranean fruit fly is found, county officials lay out 100 traps in the square mile around the core area, supplemented by 50, 25 and 10 in the succeeding square miles, said Rinder. Mediterranean fruit flies are particularly destructive because they favor a wide variety of fruit and vegetable hosts, Rinder said.