Oriental fruit fly, Birkdale

Why this pest is a problem for New Zealand

The Oriental fruit fly can affect over 300 hosts including apple, kiwifruit, citrus, and tomatoes. A population of Oriental fruit fly would cause control costs, production losses, and some countries would stop accepting our exported produce.

The situation in Birkdale where the fly was found

The single male Oriental fruit fly was found in a surveillance trap in a suburban backyard in Birkdale, on Auckland’s North Shore.

What we're doing

We are putting in around 100 extra fruit fly traps within a 1500 metre area of the original find.
We have staff on the ground.
We have put a controlled area in place which restricts the movement of fruits and vegetables.
We will be ramping up trapping and testing, with daily checks in a 200-metre zone from the original find and 3-daily testing in a second zone out to 1500 m.

Controlled Area Notice (CAN) in force

The Auckland suburb of Birkdale and nearby areas on the North Shore are under a Controlled Area Notice. This is effective from 21 February. This restricts the movement of certain fruits and vegetables out of the Controlled Area to help prevent the spread of any fruit flies if there are more out there.

These legal controls are an important precaution while we investigate whether there are any further fruit flies in the area. Should there be any more flies out there, this will help prevent their spread out of the area.

This area is divided into 2 zones – A and B. Each zone has different restrictions.

Zone A is a 200-metre radius area from the original find. Zone B is a 1,500-metre radius area from original find. Zones use roads as boundaries to make it easier for people to know where they are in relation to the CAN zones.

Check if you are in the controlled area and which zone applies to you.

We also have Biosecurity New Zealand staff in the area handing out information, as well as signage showing where the restrictions are.

Controlled Area Notice (CAN) and maps

Controlled Area Notice (CAN) [PDF, 434 KB]

Map of Zones A and B – Satellite [PDF, 15 MB]

Map of Zones A and B – Traffic [PDF, 7.3 MB]

Bin locations

In Zone A, Biosecurity New Zealand bins have been provided for each property.

In Zone B, collection bins can be found roughly every 400 metres and at every exit around the perimeter of Zone B.

Use this interactive map to find the locations of bins in Zone B.

Location of collection bins in Zone B – ArcGIS

If you live in Zone A

No whole fruit and vegetables (other than leafy or soil free root vegetables and cooked, processed, preserved, dried, frozen and canned fruit) can be moved from Zone A of the controlled area.
Compost and green waste from gardens also cannot be moved out of this zone.
Residents in Zone A are asked to avoid composting fruit and vegetables. Separate fruit and vegetable waste from the rest of your household rubbish and dispose of it using a sink waste disposal unit if you have one, or put it in the bins provided by Biosecurity New Zealand. Your general rubbish can go out with your normal rubbish collection.
Also leave any home-grown fruit or vegetables that have fallen from trees or plants (windfall) on the ground in your garden. Biosecurity New Zealand inspectors may collect this material to check it for the presence of fruit fly. Waste from home-grown fruit and vegetables that have been already chopped up and is free of any bugs can be disposed of in the Biosecurity New Zealand bin. If you find eggs or larvae in home-grown produce, tie all the fruit or vegetable material inside a plastic bag and call Biosecurity New Zealand on 0800 809 966.

Lawn clippings

If you don’t have fruit trees on your property, clippings can be disposed of as you normally would.
If you do have fruit trees, put your lawn clippings in the Biosecurity New Zealand collection bins on your property. You can also continue to use green waste bags or bins for your lawn clippings – Biosecurity New Zealand will also manage this waste.
If you normally leave your lawn clippings on your property, you can continue to do so.

If you live in Zone B

No fruit and vegetables grown in the Zone B can be moved out of the controlled area. You are free to move commercially purchased fruit and vegetables (for example, fruit and vegetables bought at the supermarket) out of the area as long as that fruit has not been grown within the controlled area.
Homegrown produce waste and garden waste needs to be disposed of in Biosecurity New Zealand bins.

Lawn clippings

If you have no fruit trees on your property, dispose of your lawn clippings as you usually would.
If you do have fruit trees, put your lawn clippings in the Biosecurity New Zealand collection bins. These can be found roughly every 400 metres and at every exit around the perimeter of Zone B. You can also continue to use green waste bags or bins for your lawn clippings – Biosecurity New Zealand will also manage this waste.
If you normally leave your lawn clippings on your property, you can continue to do so.

If in doubt, don't take it out.

Kerbside collection information for residents in restricted zones - OurAuckland

About the Oriental fruit fly

The Oriental fruit fly is widespread in Africa and Asia. In Oceania, it is present in Christmas Island, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Hawaii, and Tahiti. However, it is absent from Australia.

It can affect over 300 hosts including apple, kiwifruit, citrus, and tomatoes. Adult flies lay eggs into fruit. The young stages (maggots) feed inside the fruit, causing it to rot and become unmarketable.

Adult flies:

are a little larger than a housefly (6 mm to 8 mm long)
have a dark "T" shaped marking on the abdomen (the part behind the waist)
usually have a bright yellow and orange abdomen (but can vary)
have clear wings
The thorax (behind the head) is dark or near black with 2 near parallel yellow thin strips running down each side of the thorax
The female fly has a pointed "sting" to lay eggs inside fruit (but she can't sting or bite people).

Larvae look like white long-grain rice.

Fruit flies can fly several kilometres, although they don’t tend to fly as far if there are plenty of fruit and vegetables for them to lay their eggs in. They are able to land on water, but are unlikely to choose to.

There are 4 stages in the life cycle of Oriental fruit fly:

egg
larvae
pupae
adult.

Insect development depends on temperature. The life cycle will be longer if it’s cooler, or shorter if it’s warmer. For example, eggs may hatch within 1 to 2 days in tropical countries, but it can take as long as 20 days when temperatures are cooler. Similarly, larvae take between 6 and 35 days to mature, depending on temperature.

Oriental fruit flies are susceptible to insect predators such as spiders and predatory beetles.

fly with ovipositor laying eggs in fruit — Oriental fruit fly showing dark "T" shaped marking on the abdomen (the part behind the waist).

Image files

Oriental fruit fly on a fruit [JPG, 328KB]

Oriental fruit fly dorsal [JPG, 144KB]

Oriental fruit fly lateral [JPG, 76KB]

Find out more about Oriental fruit flies

Baiting, trapping and surveillance

Biosecurity New Zealand uses a methyl eugenol lure, which is used worldwide against Oriental fruit fly in both monitoring and control programmes.

Biosecurity New Zealand’s surveillance programme watches for 100 species of fruit fly, including the Oriental fruit fly.

More than 7,800 traps are set around the country.
Pheromones are used to lure flies into the traps.
Most traps are placed near airports, seaports, and densely populated areas – where flies would most likely enter the country.