Plant Health & Pest Prevention Services Pest Detection/Emergency Projects
DETECTION ADVISORY

October 23, 1998

PD76-98

Olive Fruit Fly (OLFF)

Los Angeles County

West Los Angeles

On October 19, 1998, one unmated sexually immature female Bactrocera oleae (olive fruit fly) was found in a McPhail trap. The trap was placed in a orange tree at a residence along La Grange Avenue.

The trap density at the time of the find was five McPhail traps per square mile.

Olive fruit fly does not respond to cuelure or methyl eugenol. CDFA will increase the McPhail trap density to 80 traps per square mile in the core square mile and 40 McPhail traps per square mile in the eight adjacent square miles.

Los Angeles County trapper Rene Dominguez and CDFA ID Sorter Gloria Vargas are credited with finding the fly.

CDFA Insect Biosystematists Kevin Hoffman and Eric Fisher made the determination. Kevin Hoffman and entomologist Bob Dowell provide the following information:

The head, wing, and thorax of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, resembles an Oriental fruit fly, but the olive fruit fly differs from it by the lack of some coloration on the thorax, the somewhat different wing pattern, and by the coloration pattern on the abdomen. The top of the thorax lacks the yellow stripes at the base of the wings. The dark band along the front edge of the wing is interrupted midway and reappears as a small dark spot at the wing tip. The pattern of the abdomen consists of a series of four black spots on either side, which contrasts with the otherwise orange abdomen. The size of the captured specimen is intermediate between the larger Oriental fruit fly and the smaller Mediterranean fruit fly. Males are not known to be attracted to any synthetic lure, and therefore specimens are most likely to be found in McPhail traps. When servicing these traps, personnel should be reminded to submit any specimens which display typical Oriental fruit fly thorax and wing patterns, regardless of the pattern on the abdomen.

Olive fruit fly is a native to the olive growing regions of the Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, etc), Algeria, Canary Islands, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, South Africa, Sudan and Tunisia. It is a serious pest of cultivated olives capable of destroying over 90 percent of the crop; especially important in olives grown for consumption rather than oil. Its host is wild and cultivated olives.

Prepared by: John Pozzi