Dead Medfly Causes Alarm in Bay Area

Discovery of a dead Mediterranean fruit fly is fueling fears that the agricultural pest is back in the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time since 1992.

A state insect hunter found the dried-up male Medfly in a trap in Milpitas on Sept. 29. The next day, a 17-person team of insect experts began setting traps at the “epicenter” and throughout the surrounding 81-square-mile grid of land.

Medflies are the top agricultural pest in California, making last week’s discovery “super-serious,” said Cliff Ramos, head of the San Jose office of the state’s Pest Detection and Emergency Projects Department.

Officials in Los Angeles County recently found six fertile flies, as well as larvae, and have established an agricultural quarantine covering about 69 square miles.

The Medfly, which is not indigenous to California, burrows into fruit and vegetables and deposits its larvae. It attacks more than 250 kinds fruits, nuts and vegetables, threatening the state’s $24.5-billion agricultural industry.