| Cherry fruit fly |
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Order: Diptera
Family: Tephritidae
Scientific name: Rhagoletis indifferens (Curran)
Common name: Cherry fruit fly (CFF)
Identification
Adults: A little smaller than a housefly with distinct dark bands on wings, yellow markings near base of wings, and thin white stripes across the abdomen.
Larvae: White and legless with no distinct head, about 5-6 mm long when mature.
Damage: The larvae develop and feed within the cherry near the pit, damaging the fruit.
Damage: Damage from larval feeding make the fruit unmarketable.
  
Impacts: There are regulatory restrictions that limit the movement of fruit from infested to noninfested areas, resulting in a zero tolerance of the pest in orchards. There is also a California quarantine regulating Oregon and other states of all fresh cherry fruit, and soil or planting media within the drip area of host plants.
Host Plants: Prunus species (including cherry and plum), especially sweet cherries, and two unrelated, non-commercial genera.
Distribution: CFF is native to western North America, and has been a pest of cultivated cherries in the Pacific Northwest since the early 1900's, in Oregon since 1913. It was discovered in western Colorado in 1988.
Biology and life cycle: Overwinter as pupae in soil under trees, then emerge as adults over an extended period of up to two months during late spring/early summer. Adults are present from June through August. Flies are not strong fliers and will usually not go beyond the nearest cherry tree. Female flies lay eggs singly in cherries 7 to 10 days after emerging, and can take up to 3 weeks to deposit eggs. The eggs hatch in about 5 to 8 days, and larvae feed for 1-2 weeks before boring out, dropping to the ground, and burrowing into the soil to pupate. There is one generation per year.
Photo credits:
CFF adult: Ken Gray Image Courtesy of Oregon State University
CFF wing: Photo courtesy of Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
CFF damage: Ken Gray Image Courtesy of Oregon State University
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