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Oriental Fruit Fly

Scientific Name

Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel, 1912) (ITIS)

Common Name

Oriental fruit fly (OFF)

Native To

First recorded in Taiwan (Shi et al. 2005)

Date of U.S. Introduction

Introduced to Hawaii in the 1940s; several infestations in the continental U.S. have been discovered since then, triggering eradication programs (Weems and Heppner 2016)

Means of Introduction

Possibly introduced to Hawaii by U.S. military troops returning after World War II (Weems and Heppner 2016)

Impact

Destructive pest of fruits and vegetables (Weems and Heppner 2016)

Oriental fruit fly
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Oriental Fruit Fly, Adults Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry

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Spotlights

  • USDA Protects Hundreds of Crops from Invasive Fruit Flies with Five-Year Strategy

    • Apr 17, 2024
    • USDA. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

    • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has released Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Program Fiscal Years 2024-2028 Strategy [PDF, 1.2 MB]. APHIS worked with members of the National Plant Board to develop a unified roadmap for USDA and its partners to protect American agriculture from the threat of invasive fruit flies and measure our progress along the way.
      See also: Exotic Fruit Flies for more information

  • USDA and CDFA Declare California Free of Invasive Fruit Flies

    • Aug 27, 2024
    • USDA. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

    • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in collaboration with County Agricultural Commissioners, are proud to announce that after a year of hard work we have eradicated all populations of invasive fruit flies from California. This significant achievement is a testament to the hard work of our agencies and the critical support from the public. 

  • Oriental Fruit Fly Quarantine in Portion of Los Angeles County

    • Jul 7, 2022
    • California Department of Food and Agriculture.

    • A portion of Los Angeles County has been placed under quarantine for the Oriental Fruit Fly following the detection of 14 flies in the San Fernando Valley in the North Hills area. To prevent the spread of fruit flies through homegrown fruits and vegetables, residents living in the quarantine area are urged not to move those items from their property. However, they may be consumed or processed (i.e., juiced, frozen, cooked, or ground in the garbage disposal) on the property where they were picked or disposed of by double bagging and placing in the regular trash, not green waste. Residents with questions about the project may call CDFA’s Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899. Additional information may be found here: www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/off.

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Quarantine

Federally Regulated

Videos

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

Partnership
Federal Government
International Government
State and Local Government
  • Exotic Fruit Fly Pests

    • Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Division of Plant Industry.

    • Contains fact sheets and other resources for Mediterranean fruit fly, Mexican fruit fly, and Oriental fruit fly

  • Pest Profile - Oriental Fruit Fly

    • California Department of Food and Agriculture. Plant Health Division. Pest Detection/Emergency Projects Branch.

Academic
Professional
Citations