Country: United States

Title: Bactrocera cucurbitae (Melon Fruit Fly) - Establishment of a quarantine area in Kern, California

Contact:
Wayne Burnett, APHIS Exotic Fruit Fly Director, Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Programs, at (301) 734-4387

Report: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the detection of a melon fruit fly population in the Arvin area of Kern County, California. Effective August 19, 2010, APHIS is designating portions of Kern County as a melon fruit fly-quarantine area and is applying restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area. These actions are necessary to prevent the spread of melon fruit fly to noninfested areas of the United States.

Between August 9 and August 11, 2010, three unmated adult female melon fruit flies and three adult male melon fruit flies were detected in fruit fly traps placed on two adjacent rural residential properties in the Arvin area of Kern County, California. APHIS, in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Kern County Department of Agriculture and Measurement Standards, confirmed the detection. The detection triggered the establishment of this quarantine area, which encompasses approximately 82-square miles of Kern County. The quarantine area contains approximately 17, 000 acres of commercial host commodity production including citrus, peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupes, melons, eggplants, peaches, and apples.

Fruit fly traps have been deployed at protocol levels to conduct a delimitation survey surrounding the detection sites. The main population control will be mass trapping using the deployment of 1000 Jackson traps per square mile baited with Cuelure and a pesticide (naled). Cuelure is a male attractant and will lure the male flies to the baited traps. The goal is to remove the males from the population to inhibit the reproduction cycle. Spinosad foliar bait spray treatments are being applied to all host trees within 200 meters of the two detection sites and any host commodities remaining on the two detection sites are being removed and destroyed.

This action is effective as of August 19, 2010. This new quarantine area has been added to the APHIS website. To see the current list of Federal fruit fly quarantine areas, please copy and paste the following link into your Web browser:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/fruit_flies/index.shtml  

Under IPPC standards, Bactrocera cucurbitae is considered to be a pest that is transient, actionable, and under eradication in the United States.
 

Posted Date: Aug. 26, 2010, 9 a.m.