Country: United States

Title: Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly) - Quarantined Area in Los Angeles County, California – United States

Contact:
Wayne Burnett, Domestic Coordinator, Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Programs, (301) 734-4387

Report: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the detection of Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) in the Rolling Hills/Rancho Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles County, California. APHIS is designating portions of Los Angeles County as Medfly quarantine areas and is applying restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area. These actions are necessary to prevent the spread of Medfly to noninfested areas of the United States.

From October 24 through November 3, 2007, APHIS confirmed the detection of four mated and two unmated female Medflies on four separate residential properties in the Rolling Hills/Rancho Palos Verdes area. These detections triggered the initiation of this quarantine. The quarantine boundary encompasses approximately 59 square miles of Los Angeles County. This is mostly a residential area, and there is no commercial host production in the quarantine area. Portions of the Port of Los Angeles are within the quarantine area.

Fruit fly traps are being deployed at protocol levels to conduct a delimitation survey surrounding the detection sites. Spinosad foliar bait spray treatments are being applied to all host trees within 200 meters of the detection sites at 7 to 10 day intervals. The release of sterile male Medflies will be intensified in a 17.2-square-mile area surrounding the detection sites at a release rate of 250,000 sterile Medflies per square mile per week. The weekly release of sterile Medflies will continue through two projected Medfly life cycles in the Rolling Hills/Rancho Palos Verdes area.

Under IPPC Standards, Ceratitis capitata is considered to be a pest that is transient, actionable, and under eradication in the United States.
 

Posted Date: Nov. 14, 2007, 9 a.m.