Morning Ag Clips logo
  • Subscribe ❯
  • PORTAL ❯
  • LOGIN ❯
  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe to our
    daily email
    ❯
  • Portal Registration❯
  • Login❯
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Morning Ag Clips

  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
Home » Possible ally in harmful fruit fly fight
CATCHING HOPE ... Comments

Possible ally in harmful fruit fly fight

Tiny parasitic wasp discovered in Asian giant hornet trap

PUBLISHED ON December 15, 2020

Leptopilina japonica is a tiny parasitic wasp that kills spotted wing drosophila (SWD), which has been causing extensive damage to fruit crops in Washington for both farmers and gardeners. (Warren H. L. Wong, University of British Columbia, Canada)

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The benefits of the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Asian giant hornet program just keep coming. Not only did they find and eradicate the first Asian giant hornet nest this fall, but now entomologists have found a very promising sign in the hornet traps: the first-known detection of Leptopilina japonica in the United States.

Leptopilina japonica is a tiny parasitic wasp that kills spotted wing drosophila (SWD), which has been causing extensive damage to fruit crops in Washington for both farmers and gardeners. The wasp larvae consume the inside of the SWD larvae, eventually killing the fly. This exciting find, made in collaboration with the Systematic Entomology Laboratory (ARS-USDA) in Washington, DC, may lead to the development of biological control programs to potentially help manage SWD.

The wasp was found in WSDA’s Asian giant hornet traps. Traps sometimes catch bugs that are not the target pest. In this case, the orange juice and cooking rice wine bait was evidently very attractive to SWD, capturing countless numbers of the detested pests in addition to the wasp that entomologists discovered.

Finding better ways to manage spotted wind drosophila has been a challenge for farmers and researchers alike. First found in California in 2008, it was discovered in Washington in 2009. Unlike most fruit flies that lay their eggs in overripe or damaged fruit, SWD will lay eggs very early in the ripening process and in undamaged fruit. This means that ripe fruit could have SWD larvae in it. So far the only successful defense against SWD has been to apply pesticides when they are detected; a biological control would be a welcome management tool.

While a first for the U.S., the wasp was also recently discovered in British Columbia in the fall of 2019. Further research indicated that it may have been in Canada as early as 2016.

WSDA’s entomology lab still has thousands of Asian giant hornet trap contents to examine, but once their work and analysis is complete, the data on what was found in the traps will be made publicly available.

— Washington State Department of Agriculture

For more articles out of Washington, click here.

Spread the word

Browse More Clips

winery sign

Wine tourism: Brutal year, bright future

Fighting invasive yeast in red winemaking

Primary Sidebar

MORE

WASHINGTON CLIPS

Northwest Region Crop Progress and Condition for the week ending June 26, 2022
June 28, 2022
Next Gen Ag & Conservation Professional Mentorship
June 28, 2022
Nominations open for 2023 Potatoes USA Board Members
June 28, 2022
Graduate students accepted into prestigious fellowship
June 27, 2022
National Safety Conference for the Poultry Industry
June 27, 2022
  • Trending
  • Latest

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Footer

MORNING AG CLIPS

  • Sponsors
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Customer & Technical Support

CONNECT WITH US

  • Like Us on Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

TRACK YOUR TRADE

  • Markets & Economy
  • Cattle Updates
  • Dairy News
  • Policy & Politics
  • Corn Alerts

QUICK LINKS

  • Account
  • Portal Membership
  • Invite Your Friends
  • Subscribe to RSS
  • WeatherTrends
  • Just Me, Kate

© 2022 Morning Ag Clips, LLC. All Rights Reserved.