Miami-Dade county is in a state of agricultural emergency thanks to the Oriental Fruit Fly (Bactrocera dorsalis). The Oriental Fruit Fly has the potential to cause serious economic harm as it can infest many types of fruits and vegetables.
The Oriental fruit fly is currently under eradication and not considered established within the state of Florida. All regulatory and eradication questions should be directed to either the state of Florida or our local USDA-APHIS-PPQ State Plant Health Director (SPHD) Office. Anyone concerned with a suspect detection of Oriental fruit fly within the state of Florida should call the helpline number below. Please note that the identification of suspect specimens must be confirmed by an approved USDA-APHIS-PPQ and/or FDACS-DPI regulatory specialist. UF-IFAS County Extension Offices should immediately call the DPI helpline with questions or concerns related to Oriental fruit fly.
Please note that FDACS-DPI has provided the following information to the general public for their convenience and information-
Division of Plant Industry Helpline
Contact us Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST
1-888-397-1517
(352) 395-4600 (Outside North America)
DPIHelpline@FreshFromFlorida.com
From the UF-IFAS Featured Creatures-
Adult: The adult, which is noticeably larger than a house fly, has a body length of about 8.0 mm; the wing is about 7.3 mm in length and is mostly transparent. The color of the fly is very variable, but there are prominent yellow and dark brown to black markings on the thorax.
Hosts: The oriental fruit fly has been recorded from more than 150 kinds of fruit and vegetables, including: apricot, avocado, banana, citrus, coffee, fig, guava, loquat, mango, roseapple, papaya, passion fruit, peach, pear, persimmon, pineapple, surinam cherry and tomato. However, avocado, mango and papaya are the most commonly attacked.
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