California officials dumping 250,000 sterile fruit flies
November 09 , 2023
More News
Top Stories
In a bid to combat fruit fly infestation in California, officials will drop 250,000 marked sterile male flies. The measure will be applied weekly per square mile across a nine-square-mile area, Smithsonian Magazine reports.
The sterile male flies are marked with a special purple dye and, once they mate with the existing female flies, they will produce infertile eggs which will be unable to affect crops.
Related articles: USDA expands HLB quarantine in California
Mediterranean fruit flies, or medflies for short, are currently the “most important agricultural pest in the world" according to the USDA, as they can affect more than 250 types of produce.
Medflies were first detected in California in 1875, but didn’t reach outbreak levels until 1980.
Subscribe to our newsletter
