New Kind of Fruit Fly Lands in L.A.

A fruit fly apparently never seen before in North America has been discovered in a Granada Hills peach tree, agricultural officials said Monday.

The dead fly, found Friday in an insect trap hanging in a backyard tree, was immediately flown to Sacramento, where state entomologists spent Saturday trying unsuccessfully to identify it before sending it to experts at the University of Hawaii on Sunday.

On Monday, worried Los Angeles County agricultural inspectors installed 130 more fly traps in a nine-square-mile area of Granada Hills and Northridge to check for a possible infestation of the strange insect.

Officials regularly watch for any signs of fruit flies, which can endanger California’s large commercial citrus crop. Affected fruit cannot be sold or shipped.

“All that can be stated with certainty at this time is that insect is of the Dakus species in the same genus as the Oriental fruit fly and the melon fly,” said Jera Curry, spokeswoman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

“If they can’t identify it in Hawaii, we’ll send it on to Australia, where there are more experts.”

An African pumpkin fly was found in Cerritos and a guava fruit fly, native to India, was found in West Los Angeles last week.

“This tells us people are bringing fruits and vegetables from other countries,” said Bob Donley, deputy director of the county Agricultural Department’s pest prevention division. “It’s not frightening unless we start finding more.”

The Granada Hills fly was discovered in one of the 150,000 insect traps in the state.