‘No Surprise,’ Officials Say : Live Medfly Found in Spraying Zone

Another Mediterranean fruit fly has been trapped in the central San Fernando Valley, where state agricultural officials fought an infestation last week with an aerial spraying of pesticide and a 62-square-mile quarantine of fruits and vegetables.

The discovery of the live insect in a trap Saturday on Darby Place in Reseda will not prompt another aerial spraying of the pesticide malathion, said Becky Jones, an entomologist with the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

A 16-square-mile area that included Northridge and Reseda was sprayed with malathion the evening of July 25 after four female Medflies were found.

“We weren’t really at all surprised to find another fly,” Jones said. “Sometimes they turn up after spraying and sometimes they don’t.”

Jones said the Medfly found Saturday could have just emerged from its underground cocoon, thus escaping the malathion. She said an entomologist from Sacramento will determine the developmental stage of the fly this week.

Agricultural Threat

Medflies are considered a threat to the state’s multimillion-dollar agriculture industry because the females lay their eggs in fruit and vegetables, which become maggot-infested and unsalable.

The fly trapped Saturday--the Valley’s fifth find since July 20--is believed to be a male, Jones said.

If its sex is confirmed in Sacramento later this week, it will be the first male Medfly trapped in the infestation.

Officials said they will proceed with the release of 20 million sterile male flies Tuesday and will follow with more hordes until the sterile Medfly count in the central Valley reaches 100 million to 300 million.

The tiny flies, dyed fluorescent pink, are intended to mate with their produce-destroying counterparts.

In preparation for the release of the sterile flies, state employees were busy Sunday replacing about 1,900 triangular, cardboard traps with larger, circular traps.

These larger traps will make it easier for entomologists to distinguish under a black light the sterile males from other Medflies.