Oriental Fruit Fly Found in Downey
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A male Oriental fruit fly has been found in Downey, four blocks from where a female Oriental fruit fly was discovered 19 days earlier, the county Agriculture Department said Tuesday.
E. Leon Spaugy, the county’s agriculture commissioner, said ground crews will begin eradication efforts Thursday, applying a combination sex lure-insecticide to utility poles, street trees and signposts.
The deadly bait will be applied in a nine-square-mile area in Downey and a small portion of South Gate.
The latest discovery was made Monday in a trap on Luxor Street. County workers have placed additional fruit fly traps in an 81-square-mile area to determine the extent of the infestation.
Oriental fruit fly eradication efforts are also being conducted in West Covina and the Hawthorne-Lawndale area, where the pest was earlier detected.
The Oriental fruit fly, first discovered in 1969 in Southern California, is known to attack more than 230 fruits and vegetables. The adult fly is slightly larger than a housefly and is very colorful, with a yellow-striped abdomen and yellowish legs.
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