North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

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From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 10:21:22 -0400
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: ARS Hosts Fruit Fly Conference

NEWS RELEASE:
Agricultural Research Service Hosts Fruit Fly Conference
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Alfredo Flores, (301) 504-1627, aflores@ars.usda.gov
May 14, 2004
___________________________________________

WASHINGTON, May 14--Researchers from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service will co-host the 5th Meeting
of the Working Group of Fruit Flies of the Western Hemisphere, set for
May 16-21 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The conference is designed to bring
together entomologists, chemists, geneticists, biologists, taxonomists,
consultants, managers and regulators who are actively involved in all
aspects of tephritid fruit fly detection.

Among the attendees will be representatives from scientific
organizations in Guatemala, Austria, the Dominican Republic, Argentina,
Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Georgia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Portugal,
Spain, Suriname, the Netherlands and the United States. The speakers
will discuss methods of detection, control and eradication, as well as
biological control and regulatory procedures.

ARS' Subtropical Horticulture Research Station at Miami is co-hosting
the meeting together with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) in Miami and the University of Florida's Institute of
Food and Agricultural Sciences in Gainesville. APHIS manages programs
using biological control for invasive species. ARS is the chief in-house
scientific research agency of USDA.

Meeting participants will review research and formulate new goals and
approaches to management strategies and action programs for
Mediterranean fruit flies, also known as medflies, as well as
Anastrepha, Bactrocera, Rhagoletis and other tephritid fruit flies.

The adult female medfly damages ripe fruit by making a hole and
depositing her eggs under the skin of the fruit. Once the larvae hatch,
they satisfy their appetites by feeding on the pulp of the fruit,
rendering it unfit for human consumption. APHIS estimates that
agricultural losses would be about $1.5 billion a year if medflies were
to become established in the continental United States.
___________________________________________

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