Mexfly Found; County Plans No Spraying

The Los Angeles County agricultural commissioner’s office announced Friday that a Mexican fruit fly had been trapped in City Terrace, the first appearance of the crop-destroying pest since it was officially declared eradicated in the county last November.

The unmated Mexfly was trapped Thursday in a back yard guava tree in the 400 block of Marianna Avenue within about two miles of where four others were found during last year’s infestation.

Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner E. Leon Spaugy said that the discovery is being treated as an isolated find and that there are no plans to spray the area with malathion or to release sterile Mexflies, which are used to disturb the pest’s breeding cycle.

Spaugy said county agricultural workers have begun increasing the number of fly traps in an 81-square-mile area surrounding the find.

“With the temperatures warming up, I don’t think it’s too surprising that we found one,” Spaugy said. “It would be disturbing if we picked up additional flies, but at this point we’re treating it as an isolated find.”

Mexican fruit flies appear in Southern California on almost an annual basis, although the numbers are so small that the county usually does not need to use aerial spraying, which is considered the most effective means of eradicating the pest.

But last year, enough Mexflies were found in Compton and El Cajon in San Diego County to require aerial spraying. The spraying coincided with the largest Mediterranean fruit fly infestation ever to hit Southern California.

The Medfly outbreak lasted 16 months and forced the use of aerial malathion spraying over 536 square miles in four counties.

Last year, malathion was sprayed in the area around the latest Mexfly find to combat the Medfly and Mexfly infestations.

Mexflies are considered most dangerous fruit fly to agriculture after the Mediterranean fruit fly.

The Mexfly attacks more than 40 types of fruit, primarily citrus and stone fruits, such as peaches and apricots. The Mediterranean fruit fly is known to attack about 250 types of fruit, nuts and vegetables.

The last major Mexfly infestation was in 1983 in Huntington Park, forcing a quarantine of more than 140 square miles and repeated malathion sprayings.