Bactrocera tryoni
Encyclopedia
Bactrocera tryoni is a species known as the Queensland
fruit fly. Bactrocera is a genus
of a kind of small flies. It is native to Australia
.
Adult flies are about 5 to 8mm in length in adult stage. Their larvae hatch in various fruit species, causing significant damage to crops.
The fly has been the subject of extensive control regimes including a Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone where it is forbidden to take fruit, and post-harvest dipping of fruit in dimethoate
and fenthion
. As of October 2011, the use of these chemicals was under review by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), with dimethoate suspended from use.
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
fruit fly. Bactrocera is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of a kind of small flies. It is native to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Adult flies are about 5 to 8mm in length in adult stage. Their larvae hatch in various fruit species, causing significant damage to crops.
The fly has been the subject of extensive control regimes including a Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone where it is forbidden to take fruit, and post-harvest dipping of fruit in dimethoate
Dimethoate
Dimethoate is a widely used organophosphate insecticide used to kill insects on contact. It was patented and introduced in the 1950s by American Cyanamid. Like other organophosphates, dimethoate is an anticholinesterase which disables cholinesterase, an enzyme essential for central nervous system...
and fenthion
Fenthion
Fenthion is an organothiophosphate insecticide, avicide, and acaricide. Like most other organophosphates, its mode of action is via cholinesterase inhibition. Due to its relatively low toxicity towards humans and mammals, fenthion is listed as moderately toxic compound in U.S. Environmental...
. As of October 2011, the use of these chemicals was under review by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), with dimethoate suspended from use.
The white locus
A gene for white eye found in Drosophila is found to have homologs in this as well as numerous other Diptera.Further reading
- Courtice, A. C. (2006). Of Peaches and Maggots, The Story of Queensland Fruit Fly. Published by Hillside Books.
External links
- Queensland fruit fly on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
Featured Creatures Web site - Review of Fruit Fly Management in Victoria and Options for Future Management. Independent review by Kalang Consultancy Services Pty Ltd. for the Department of Primary Industries, Victoria.
- Of Peaches and Maggots: The Story of Queensland Fruit Fly, A.C. Courtice, Hillside Books 2006