What Does a Fruit Fly Look Like?

Hi, I'm Charles Boning, and I'm the author of Florida's Best Fruiting Plants. Today we're at Jene's Tropicals in St. Petersburg, Florida. I want to talk to you briefly about the way fruit flies look. Fruit flies tend to be small flies, and they're generally less than a third of an inch in length. They're a little smaller than the average house fly. They have a brown body, they have red eyes, and they have clear wings with dark banding on them. Fruit flies can often be seen landing on or hovering near over-ripe fruit or fruit that's fallen to the ground, or simply fruit that's attained a full state of ripeness. They use their ovipositors to lay eggs beneath the skin of the fruit. The maggots then hatch from those eggs, drill through the fruit, and render the fruit unfit for human consumption. Fruit flies are a tremendous nuisance in Florida, here. They've also appeared in California, and there's four different fruit flies that are present in Hawaii. The main pest here is the Caribbean fruit fly. Many of the fruit flies that are the most destructive pests of agriculture are not native to the United States. Most of them came from distant lands. In addition to the Caribbean fruit fly, we have the Oriental fruit fly. We have the Malaysian fruit fly, we have the melon fruit fly, the papaya fruit fly, and several others. The Mexican fruit fly has also appeared in California from time to time. It's important to recognize these pests so that you can protect your fruit and vegetables in the best manner you can. I'm Charles Boning, and that's how to identify a fruit fly.