More Traps Set for Mexican Fruit Flies

County workers Tuesday rushed to set up additional traps in a 61-square-mile section of southeast Los Angeles County, following the discovery Monday of yet another agricultural pest--three Mexican fruit flies found in a back-yard fig tree in Lynwood.

No aerial spraying with the pesticide malathion is planned unless additional flies or maggot-infested fruit are found, officials said.

The Mexican fruit fly is “not quite the threat” of the notorious Mediterranean fruit fly because it attacks fewer fruits and vegetables, said Bill Edwards, the county’s chief deputy agricultural commissioner. Nonetheless, it can wreak havoc on the state’s billion-dollar avocado and citrus industry, he said.

Traps will be set in Lynwood and the surrounding area to deal with the pest.

Mexican fruit flies have been trapped six times in Los Angeles County since the mid ‘70s, with agriculture officials spending $2.7 million to eradicate a major infestation in an area stretching from East Los Angeles to Huntington Park in 1983 and 1984.

Leon Spaugy, county agriculture commissioner, urged residents to call his office if they find white maggots in back-yard fruits.