Latin Fruit Fly Found in East County Orange Tree

A wild female Mexican fruit fly has been discovered in a residential orange tree--the first time scientists have ever captured the insidious fruit-infesting insect in Ventura County, authorities announced Thursday.

The find of the fertile fly earlier this week initially alarmed farmers and county leaders, who fear the Latin American insect could devour the county’s $300-million avocado and citrus crop.

But entomologists, as well as state and local agricultural officials, downplayed any possible danger--especially when compared with the Mediterranean fruit fly that plagued Ventura County in 1994.

“The Medfly is the biggest threat,” said California Department of Fruit and Agriculture spokesman Kevin Herglotz. “On a scale of 1 to 10, the Medfly is a 10. This is below a 5.

“At this point, this is not an infestation,” he emphasized. “It is a single fly find.”

Authorities said they would wait to see if more flies appeared before deciding whether to impose a quarantine or begin eradication efforts.

Deputy County Agricultural Commissioner Dave Buettner made clear that at this point the county has no intention of dousing the county in the pink-brown cloud of chemicals used to kill the Medflies found near Camarillo.

“If eradication were to take place, it would not be aerial spraying,” he said.

That news came as a relief to Supervisor Frank Schillo, whose district includes Thousand Oaks.

“When I got the call, it scared the heck out of me,” Schillo said. “I thought back to Camarillo and what had happened with the [Medfly] spraying and I thought, ‘Oh no!’ ”

Schillo’s initial alarm was matched by some local farmers. But none sounded panicked Thursday afternoon.

“Of all the pests, it’s probably a better one to find if you are going to find one,” said Tom Pecht, an avocado farmer in Somis. “It’s not as serious as the Mediterranean fruit fly . . . and [is] very easily trapped.”

Because of the potential for fruit loss, the county agricultural commissioner’s office began placing more traps. There are now 80 in a one-mile radius around the find.

These traps will be checked daily for the first week, Buettner said.

In addition, 40 traps per square mile will be placed in an eight-mile radius.

The Mexican fruit fly grows to be slightly larger than a housefly. It has a yellow-brown body and green eyes. Bands of yellow and brown ring its wings.

It can take as little as 36 days for the fly to develop from egg to adult. Adult flies can live 11 months and are strong fliers. The female fly lays her eggs in the fruit, causing it to rot and drop to the ground.

The larvae then crawl out and lodge in the ground in a pupal state, until they hatch and emerge as flies.

They are found in Mexico, Central America and northern South America.

Buettner said the fly is different from the Medfly because it cannot reproduce as quickly and does not infest as many types of fruits.

In Ventura County, the Mexican fruit fly could feast on avocados, oranges and grapefruit, Buettner said, but the Medfly likes everything.

The Mexican fruit fly is also easier to get rid of.

“Typically we release sterile fruit flies,” explained Myrlys Williams, a spokeswoman for the state agriculture department.

That was the method used in San Diego and Los Angeles counties when flies were found there in 1995 and 1996.

Some of the sterile flies from Los Angeles have found their way into Ventura County before, Buettner said. But this is the first fertile fly ever found here.

There is no way to say where it came from, but officials suspect it traveled into the county in a piece of fruit smuggled into the United States by car or plane.