Anastrepha Ludens
Insecta Diptera Tephritidae
By James Williams
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Originates from Mexico, Central America, and
from areas as far south as Costa Rica
Introduced in 1927 to Western Mexico, Texas,
Arizona, and Southern California accidentally
Transported by exporting fruits from Mexico
across the border and into the U.S.
It can now be found in all the areas
mentioned earlier and parts of Florida
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People affect the flies by killing them.
There is no first hand affect from the flies to
the humans
A second hand affect; eating the fruit bitten
by the flies causes dietary restriction
 Less
fruit is able to be eaten or sold to
other countries
 Effects on animals? Same as on humans.
Dietary restriction. There is no first hand
affect
 Sun
Fruit Tree
 Mexican Fruit Fly
Bats
 Decomposers
 No
known predator of the fruit fly besides
any animal that eats a fruit that is home to
the fly larvae. No specific predator
 The ecological balance has shifted for
animals that eat the fruit. The animals’
populations have decreased.
 Does not affect humans because of
medical advancements
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Reasons for success; the climate is near the
same in Texas and other new areas as it is in
Mexico and its other homelands.
There is an excess of fruit in the new habitats
of the fly.
As I stated earlier, there is no predator of the
fruit fly
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To attempt to control the fruit fly, when the
bug reaches pest status, exterminators set up
traps to catch and kill the bugs
Options to control growth; let the insects
overpopulate and destroy the fruit, or
continue using the traps to control the
population
The trade-offs of these decisions; if you let
them live without control, most fruit is
inedible. When you control the population,
the government is spending money