Fruit fly
Fruit flies are small insects belonging to two primary families, Drosophilidae and Tephritidae, and are notorious for being agricultural pests, particularly to fruit growers. The family Drosophilidae contains around 4,000 species, including the well-known Drosophila melanogaster, while the larger Tephritidae family has nearly 5,000 species, including the destructive Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. These insects vary in size and body shape, with Tephritidae species generally being larger and often featuring distinctive wing patterns. Fruit flies reproduce by laying eggs in specific environments: Drosophilidae females prefer fermenting fruit, whereas Tephritidae females choose young, fleshy fruits. The larvae emerge and feed on the fruit, leading to potential crop damage.
Aside from their pest status, fruit flies are important in scientific research, particularly in genetics and heredity studies, due to their rapid life cycle and ease of maintenance. They are commonly found around ripening or rotting fruits, as their diet consists primarily of sweet, nutritious fluids from fruits and plants. This attraction also brings them into human spaces, such as homes and places where alcohol is produced, highlighting their interaction with both natural and human environments.
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Fruit fly
Fruit flies are pests to fruit growers and may cause extreme damage to fruit crops. They are common around the world.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Anthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Drosophilidae; Tephritidae
Genus: Various (see below)
Species: Various (see below)
The many species of fruit flies are members of two families of flies, Drosophilidae and Tephritidae. The family Drosophilidae contains around 4,000 species within 75 genera, including Drosophila melanogaster, which is the specific species known as "fruit fly." The family Tephritidae is larger, containing nearly 5,000 species within 500 genera. Tephritidae contains the genus Bactrocera, known for their desctruction of agriculture and crops around the world. Tephritidae also contains one of the best-known species of fruit flies, the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata. This species lives in all fruit-growing countries with warm Mediterranean climates. It also has invaded the United States and caused great damage.
The bodies of fruit flies vary somewhat in shape, but all have the same basic body style. Their eyes are of different sizes and colors. They usually have short antennae. Behind their rounded heads are their thoraxes, or mid-body sections, to which are attached their two wings and six legs. Wings are of different sizes and shapes, and some have fancy patterns and designs on them. The third section of their bodies, behind their thoraxes, are their abdomens. These are the lower-body, or tail, sections and also vary between species. The largest species belong to the family Tephritidae and are almost 1/2 inch (up to one centimeter) long, though other species in the family are not as large. Species of the Drosophilidae family are smaller and typically measure around 1/10 inch (three millimeters). A way to distinguish the two families is most members of the Tephritidae family have a distinct wing pattern with stripes, splotches, or a lot of spots. Members of the Drosophilidae family have a clear wing with only a small number of distinct spots.
After mating, female fruit flies use their ovipositors to deposit their eggs. Ovipositors are special tubes attached to the abdomens of the females which they insert into fruit and through which their eggs leave their bodies. Females in the Drosophilidae family lay their eggs in fermenting, or rotting, fruit on the ground, while females in the Tephritidae family lay their eggs in young, fleshy fruit on the plants or trees. The worm-like larvae, or young, of both families hatch within the fruit and feed safely. The fruit in which the Tephritidae young feed ripens and may even begin rotting before it falls to the ground.
In both families the young crawl from the fruit into the ground, where they then pupate. Pupation is the growth stage through which they pass before becoming adults. During this time they transform inside their cocoon-like larval skins, called pupariums, and then emerge as adults with wings and legs. The cycle from egg-laying to becoming adults takes about two weeks.
Fruit flies are well-known both in laboratories and classrooms and in places where fruits grow. Scientists and students study fruit flies for research in heredity and genetics. Heredity and genetics are the studies of how creatures change or stay the same from one generation to another. Fruit flies are good insects to study because they are easy to keep alive, breed quickly, and have short life spans of only a couple weeks.
Fruit growers are also familiar with fruit flies because these tiny insects are terrible pests on farms and in orchards and greenhouses. The diet of fruit flies is a wide variety of fruits. They eat not only the fruits but also other parts of the plants or trees. With their little tube-like mouthparts, they are able to pierce the fruits and plants and suck the sweet, nutritious fluids. Fruit flies are also common in houses and other places where people store fruit because the flies are attracted by odors from the fruit, especially when it is overripe and has begun to rot, or ferment. Fermentation is the process in which chemical compounds in growing things begin to break down. Fermentation also occurs in alcohol, so fruit flies are present where alcohol, such as wine and beer, is made.
Bibliography
Allen, Amy. “Ceratitis Capitata.” Animal Diversity Web, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ceratitis‗capitata/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
“Family Tephritidae - Fruit Flies.” BugGuide, bugguide.net/node/view/7017. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
“An Introduction to Fruit Flies.” The Berg Lab, University of Washington, 11 July 2017, depts.washington.edu/cberglab/wordpress/outreach/an-introduction-to-fruit-flies/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
Miller, Conrad. “Drosophila Melanogaster.” Animal Diversity Web, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Drosophila‗melanogaster/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.