Local News in Brief : Traps Set as Another Fruit Fly Is Found
A Mexican fruit fly was discovered in a Manhattan Beach detection trap, and agricultural officials have placed 500 additional traps in an 81-square-mile area around the city, officials said Friday.
Agricultural Commissioner Leon Spaugy said the female fly was found Thursday in an orange tree in the beach city, more than 25 miles from the spot where another Mexican fruit fly was discovered two days earlier in Altadena.
Although the discoveries were viewed as independent incidents, Spaugy said officials are concerned because a similar fruit fly was also trapped Thursday in Chula Vista in San Diego County.
Spaugy said that, if uncontrolled, the flies could pose a “serious threat” to the state’s $1.2-billion citrus and avocado crops.
“This is one of the more serious of the fruit fly pests,” Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Bob Atkins said.
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