Spotted Wing Drosophila

A novel control strategy could be in store for spotted wing drosophila, an invasive vinegar fly species from Asia that attacks more than 100 fruit crops, including blueberry, cherry, blackberry, and grape. Two- to three-millimeters long, the spotted wing drosophila fly first drew attention in 2008 in California. Before long, it had spread to other western states, inflicting losses of 50 to 100 percent in berry crops there. Two years later, it had spread to the eastern United States, wreaking similar havoc and forcing growers to retaliate with intensive insecticide spraying. Researchers, meanwhile, began learning all they could about the invader. One such scientist is Blair Sampson, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist who specializes in integrated pest management approaches for small-fruit crops. Sampson is with the ARS Thad Cochran Southern Horticultural Laboratory in Poplarville, Mississippi.