Feminine Tau fruit flies lay eggs onto host fruits that embody okra, melons, peppers, papaya, citrus, cucumbers, pumpkins, avocados, tomatoes and gourds, inflicting the produce to rot.
“The puncturing of fruit throughout egg laying admits decay organisms that trigger tissue breakdown,” the Agriculture Division stated in a report printed final month. “Larval feeding reduces the inside of fruit to a rotten mass.”
A single feminine can lay greater than 400 eggs in her lifetime, based on the California Division of Meals and Agriculture.
Grownup Tau fruit flies, about seven millimeters in size, originate in Southeast Asia and aren’t established in the USA. Officers suspect the flies that induced the quarantine have been launched by vacationers bringing uninspected produce, “a standard pathway for invasive species.”
The quarantine goals to restrict the motion of host fruits from the infested space to different neighborhoods. Fly traps with pheromone lure the bugs, and a small quantity of pesticide shall be used to eradicate them.
California officers urged residents within the quarantine space to not take away vegetables and fruit from their properties, though the meals will be consumed, juiced, frozen, cooked or floor within the rubbish disposal on the property the place they have been picked.
“In any other case, they need to be disposed of by double-bagging in plastic and inserting the luggage in a bin particularly for rubbish,” California officers stated.
