Spotted wing drosophila
The spotted wing drosophila is a tiny fruit fly with red eyes and a yellow brown body. The males have a dark spot near the tip of each wing. Unlike most fruit flies, which like old rotting fruit, it lays its eggs in fresh, ripe fruit.
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Fun facts
The female has a tiny saw on her tail. She uses it to cut into the skin of ripe fruit and slip her eggs inside.
One female can lay up to 300 eggs in her life.
Flies that hatch in autumn can live up to ten months, spending the winter as grown-ups.
It reached North America in 2008 and spread across much of the United States in just a few years.
Only the males have the spots on their wings that give it its name.
Most asked questions about Spotted wing drosophila
?Why is the spotted wing drosophila a pest?
It lays eggs in fresh ripe fruit, and its maggots spoil cherries, berries and other soft fruit before they can be picked.
?How big is the spotted wing drosophila?
It is only 2 to 3,5 millimetres long, about the size of a sesame seed.
?Do all spotted wing drosophila have spots?
No. Only the males have the dark spots on their wings.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Drosophila suzukii
- Named by
- Matsumura, 1931
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Drosophilidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Drosophilidae
- Lives on
- Asia, North America, Australia and Oceania, Europe
- Also known as
- SWD, Cherry vinegar fly
Where the facts come from
- Drosophila suzukii (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Shane F. McEvey, Australian Museum. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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