Mediterranean Fruit Fly

• It attacks more than 300 species of fruit, vegetable and nut: the widest host range known in any fruit fly.
• It is fought mainly with the sterile insect technique: in the United States some 400 million sterile flies are released each month in the at-risk areas of Florida and 200 million in the Los Angeles basin.
• In the Valencian Community a pilot programme using that technique cut the wild population by more than 90% between 2003 and 2006.
• It is a quarantine pest: if it is detected in the United States an eradication programme is triggered, because fruit from infested areas cannot be exported to pest-free ones.
• Climate projections suggest its European range will grow by 42% by 2050 compared with 2020.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate fruit-growing areas; the female lays her eggs under the skin of the fruit and the larva develops inside the flesh

Size at birth

Elongated smooth egg of about 1 mm

Sexual maturity

The adults reach sexual maturity about five days after emerging; the females begin to lay between 3 and 6 days after emergence

Gestation / incubation

The eggs hatch in 2-4 days; the full cycle from egg to adult closes in about 32 days at 25 °C, with a wide range depending on temperature

Litter / clutch size

Up to 22 eggs a day and about 300 over a lifetime in typical conditions, with maxima of 800; in a cohort of 1,000 females the average was 740 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratitis_capitata; Animal Diversity Web; Carey et al. 2008 (PubMed 18314553); EPPO Datasheet CERTCA (Vargas et al. 1984); Russell IPM; IUCN GISD, ficha Ceratitis capitata; Animal Diversity Web, Ceratitis capitata; EPPO Datasheet CERTCA (Manrakhan & Lux 2006); Russell IPM, ficha Ceratitis capitata

Best time: In tropical and warm regions it breeds all year round; in a Mediterranean climate the peak coincides with the ripening of the fruit