Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search

Help for those affected by flood

Visit recovery.gov.au.

Close
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Ministers
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Agriculture and land
    Agriculture and land Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care.
    • Animal health
    • Farming, food and drought
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Climate change and agriculture
    • Plant health
    • Drought and rural support
    • Mouse infestation advice
    Xylella

    Protect against unwanted plant pests

    Our biosecurity system helps protects us. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system.

    Find out more

  • Biosecurity and trade
    Biosecurity and trade Lowering biosecurity risks to Australia, and assisting industry to accelerate growth towards a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030.
    • Aircraft, vessels and military
    • Biosecurity policy
    • Cats and dogs
    • Exporting
    • Importing
    • Pests, diseases and weeds
    • Public awareness and education
    • Trade and market access
    • Travelling or sending goods to Australia
    Brown marmorated stink bug

    BMSB Seasonal Measures

    Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB.

    View our seasonal measures

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
    • Our science strategy
    Abares

    ABARES Insights

    Get 'snapshots’ of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Contact us
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • Payments
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    Our department has changed

    Our department has changed

    Learn more about our roles and responsibilities.

    Find out more

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Climate Change, Energy, Enviroment and Water

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Biosecurity and trade
  3. Pests, diseases and weeds
  4. Plant pests and diseases
  5. Exotic fruit flies

Sidebar first - Pests diseases weeds

  • Plant pests and diseases
    • National action plans
    • Barley stripe rust
    • Begomoviruses and vectors
    • Brown marmorated stink bug
    • Citrus canker
    • Cyst nematodes of grains and vegetables
    • Exotic bees
    • Exotic stem borers of sugarcane
    • Exotic tree nematodes
    • Fire blight
    • Fruit flies
    • Giant African snail
    • Guava (eucalyptus) rust
    • Grape phylloxera
    • Spongy moths
    • Hessian flies
    • Huanglongbing
    • Internal and external mites of bees
    • Khapra beetle
      • Urgent actions to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for high-risk plant products to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for other-risk plant products to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for sea containers to protect against khapra beetle
        • Requirements for seeds for sowing to protect against khapra beetle
      • Khapra beetle in imported goods
      • Khapra beetle bulletin
      • The khapra beetle story
    • Karnal bunt
    • Leaf miner
    • Panama disease tropical race 4
    • Plum pox virus
    • Potato cyst nematode
    • Potato late blight
    • Sudden oak death
    • Xylella and exotic vectors
      • International Symposium on Xylella fastidiosa
    • Russian wheat aphid
    • Tobamoviruses
    • Exotic invasive ants
    • Ug99
    • Wheat stem sawfly
    • Zebra chip

Exotic fruit flies

 
​ ​

​​ The adult oriental fruit fly (bacterocera dorsalis) has prominent yellow and black markings on the thorax with wings similar length to its body.

PLANT PEST

Exotic fruit flies

Exotic to Australia

Features: Cause rots and discolouration. Eggs are laid close to
the surface inside the fruit with small discoloured patches
developing as a result of the stings
Where they're from: Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East,
Pacific Islands and the Americas. Mediterranean fruit fly is
found in Western Australia while others are eradicated on a
regular basis from islands in Torres Strait
How they spread:Importation of infested plant material
(primarily fruit)
At risk: Berries, citrus, avocado, mango, papaya, passionfruit,
melon, olive, summerfruit, lychees, cherries, apples and pears,
and grapes

The melon fruit fly is one of the exotic species that threaten
Australia’s production of fruit and vegetables.
Florida Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bugwood.org
.

Report it

 

Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer, Dr Gabrielle Vivian-Smith, provides an overview of the risks posed by exotic fruit flies

Download

Document Page File size
Transcript DOCX Word Icon 1 15 KB

If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.

Keep it out 

Fruit flies are one of the world’s most destructive horticultural pests and pose risks to most commercial fruit and vegetable crops. They attack some 300 species of fruit and above ground vegetables.  

Exotic fruit flies, including the Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis), carambola fruit fly (B. caramboloe) and Mexican fruit fly (Anastrepha ludens) are highly invasive species that threaten Australia’s fruit production as well as our ability to export to other countries.

Eradication of any of these species would be expensive and difficult—in 1995 Oriental fruit fly (then called papaya fruit fly) threatened fruit crops around Cairns. It was eradicated but at a cost of $33.5 million, in addition to losses to farmers estimated at $100 million owing to additional quarantine treatments and lost trade opportunities. 

Exotic fruit flies would make it difficult to grow many kinds of fruit and many of our trading partners would no longer accept our produce to avoid importing the pests as well.

Importing goods

To keep exotic fruit flies out of Australia, never ignore Australia’s strict biosecurity rules.

Import shipments may need to be treated and certified, so before you import, check our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON).

Stop the spread

While there are more than 150 species of native fruit fly in Australia, most of these do not attack commercial crops, with the notable exception of Queensland fruit fly which lives in Eastern Australia.

There are domestic quarantine restrictions in place to prevent the further spread of this native pest. Fruit and vegetables grown in affected areas cannot be sent to other parts of Australia unless they are treated for Queensland fruit fly. Travellers are not allowed to take fruit and vegetables between states and territories.

One exotic species, the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) is present in Western Australia and biosecurity measures are in place to prevent it spreading to other parts of the country. Other species, including the melon fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) and Z. cucurbitae are found in Torres Strait from time to time and are subject to ongoing eradication efforts.

It is particularly important to prevent Queensland fruit fly and Mediterranean fruit fly from spreading to South Australia and Tasmania, which are fruit fly free.

Travellers within Australia

Abide by interstate quarantine rules to prevent the spread of Queensland fruit fly and Mediterranean fruit fly. Always check before you travel or move interstate.

Interstate quarantine restrictions are in place to prevent further spread of Mediterranean and Queensland fruit flies.

What to look for

There are native and established fruit flies in Australia which makes it difficult to distinguish exotic fruit flies from those normally around unless you’re an expert. That’s why the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy has fruit fly monitoring arrangements in operation in the north of the country.

Keep an eye out for any unusual fruit flies.

Key signs are:

  • pin pricks in fruit where females lay eggs
  • maggots in rotting fruit.
Mexican fruit fly is one of the exotic species that would damage Australia’s crops. Jeffrey W. Lotz, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Bugwood.org

 

Bactrocera kirki is one of the exotic species. Pest and Diseases Image Library, Bugwood.org

 

Where to look

Importers

Importation of infested fruit is the most likely way that these exotic fruit flies would make their way to Australia.

Growers and home gardeners

Check your plants frequently for any new pests or unusual symptoms. Look for:

  • larvae—tiny white grubs—in undamaged fruit still on the tree
  • pin prick sized holes or scars on the fruit surface
  • rotting fruit.

These fruit flies have an appetite for a wide range of fruit and vegetables. Crops include:

  • citrus
  • grape
  • apple
  • pear
  • cherry
  • blueberry
  • plum
  • peach
  • avocado
  • lychee
  • papaya
  • passionfruit
  • olive
  • summerfruit
  • mango.

What to do

If you think you’ve found an exotic fruit fly or larvae:

  • do not disturb the insect (this may be as simple as closing the doors on a shipping container or sealing the infested fruit in a container)
  • take a photo and collect a sample if possible, without disturbing the flies or larvae.

Read the detail

  • Prevent Fruit Fly 
  • Fruit Fly Identification Australia  
  • Australian Interstate Quarantine restrictions

 

Contacts

Call 1800 900 090

Contact us online

Report a biosecurity concern

Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI
Last updated: 16 September 2021

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.