Official Pest Report

Official Pest Reports are provided by National Plant Protection Organizations within the NAPPO region. These Pest Reports are intended to comply with the International Plant Protection Convention's Standard on Pest Reporting, endorsed by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures in March 2002.

Anastrepha ludens (Mexican Fruit Fly): APHIS Removes the Quarantine in Hargill, Willacy County, Texas

Country: United States

Title: Anastrepha ludens (Mexican Fruit Fly): APHIS Removes the Quarantine in Hargill, Willacy County, Texas

Contact:
Richard Johnson, Fruit Fly National Policy Manager, at (301) 851-2109 or richard.n.johnson@usda.gov

Report:

On September 21, 2022, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) removed the Mexican fruit fly (Mexfly) quarantine in Hargill, Willacy County, Texas, after three generations elapsed with no additional detections in this area. This action releases the final 91.12 square miles of the Hargill quarantine, which contained 2,616.3 acres of commercial citrus.

On May 27, 2022, APHIS and TDA established a Mexfly quarantine in Hargill, Willacy County, Texas, following the confirmed detection of a mature mated female Mexfly from a trap in a sweet orange tree in a residential area and two larvae in a nearby commercial citrus grove. Since its inception, APHIS has worked cooperatively with TDA to eradicate these transient Mexfly populations through various control actions per program protocols.

The following website contains a description of all the current Federal fruit fly quarantine areas:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/ff-quarantine.

Under IPPC standards, Anastrepha ludens is a pest that has been eradicated from Hargill, Willacy County, Texas. Following a separate incursion, this pest is present only in one area in California. This species is not widely distributed and is under official control in the United States.

Posted Date: Nov. 22, 2022, 4:24 p.m.