The drosophilid risk on imports

Abstract

The introduction and spread of Drosophila suzukii (Diptera, Drosophilidae) in Europe has had a major impact on agricultural production. The origin of this pest is known, but not the relative importance of the main pathways of entry and spread. Drosophilid larvae may be detected during phytosanitary import inspections, and this study attempted to identify 18 larvae, originating from 8 countries, intercepted by phytosanitary inspectors in France (mainland and overseas territories). Given the difficulties in identifying larval stages using morphology, molecular analysis was carried out on the larvae. While the authors expected that the larvae would be mainly from the genus Drosophila, in fact the majority were from the genus Zaprionus (14 specimens, 78% of the analysis). These included Zaprionus indianus and Zaprionus tuberculatus which were found 7 times (39%) and 3 times (17%), respectively. New host plants are recorded for Zaprionus tuberculatus.