Identify, check and report fruit fly

Maggots

Check the inside of your fruit and vegetables by cutting them open and looking for tiny white maggots wriggling around, indicating it has been infected by fruit fly. You are more likely to see maggots than fruit fly.

Vinegar flies, which are tiny and dark, are harmless and you do not need to report them. These are often seen:

• around fruit in your fruit bowl
• in compost
• in shops.

Seal and report suspected fruit fly

If you find maggots, or anything wriggling that you're not sure about, seal the fruit in a plastic bag or container.

Do not freeze any collected fruit flies, larvae or produce as this will impair our testing.

Contact the 24-hour Fruit Fly Hotline on 1300 666 010 to report any suspicious findings.

Reporting fruit fly helps us know if there is a breeding population so we can act quickly to eradicate an outbreak.

Fruit fly life cycle

Fruit flies spread through 6 stages, which can ruin fruit and vegetables:

1. The female fly stings fruit to lay her eggs inside.
2. The eggs mature into maggots which feed on the fruit from the inside, making it turn rotten.
3. As the infected fruit falls to ground, the maggots jump out of the fruit and bury themselves underground.
4. The maggots turn into pupae.
5. Immature flies emerge from the soil, leaving their pupal shell behind.
6. Flies mature and breed, completing the life cycle.

Species of fruit fly

In Australia there are hundreds of species of fruit fly. Several of these pose an economic concern.

In recent years, South Australia has been managing incursions of Queensland fruit fly (Qfly) and Mediterranean fruit fly (Med-fly). Both species are not established in South Australia and pose a risk to our fruit fly status.