Oriental Fruit Flies Discovered in Cupertino

An emergency eradication effort started Friday after six oriental fruit flies were found in a residential neighborhood in Cupertino earlier this week, Santa Clara County officials said.

The flies were found June 22, 23, and 24, west of the Highway 85 and De Anza Boulevard intersection.

The maggots that develop from the females’ eggs feed on the pulp of more than 230 kinds of fruits and vegetables, causing the fruit or vegetable to decay and drop to the ground.

“California is the United States’ fruit basket,” Michelle Thom, deputy commissioner for the Santa Clara County Department of Agriculture said.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “California accounts for about half of the harvested fruit acreage” in the United States.

State agriculture workers will use an insecticide and lure that that attracts and kills the male flies, county officials said.

Workers will apply small, dollar-sized spots or bait stations at a height of six to eight feet on utility poles and street trees.

Workers will treat about 15 square miles bordered by East Homestead Road on the north, Stevens Canyon Road in the east, Pierce Road on the south and Johnson Avenue in the west, county officials said.

Thom said the flies may have hitchhiked on a gift from a well-meaning family member in Hawaii or an Asian country.

--Bay City News; Image via University of Florida