50 More Urban Species #18-19: Fruit fly, Dark-eyed fruit fly

[urbpan]

Fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster

Dark-eyed fruit fly Drosophila repleta


There are several species of very small flies that one is likely to find in a kitchen. Besides the little house fly and the drain fly, there are a few types of fruit fly, including these two. Identifying small flies is important if you are interested in reducing their numbers, since different substances attract different flies.

D. melanogaster is attracted to the products of fermentation. A ripe fruit is just the thing to make these tiny reddish flies magically appear; a banana peel in the trash will work too. The fruit flies are there to lay eggs in the rotting fruit—their larvae will feed on the sugars and yeasts found there. Vinegar and wine come ready-made with these ingredients and open containers of these will also attract fruit flies.

D. repleta is a slightly larger fly, darker all around, with eyes that are noticeably darker than D. melanogaster’s. The dark-eyed fruit fly is not as interested in fruit—it is attracted to the bacterial scum that forms in places where food and water collect. A crack in a kitchen floor is an ideal nursery for dark-eyed fruit fly maggots, as are many parts of a dirty sink. D. melanogaster infestations last as long as the fruit is around, D. repleta infestations are long term, requiring deep cleaning of surfaces and cavities that are never otherwise cleaned. Products containing microbes that consume the bacterial slime that harbor dark-eyed fruit fly maggots are a safe and reportedly effective way to eliminate them. D. repleta is part of a complex of closely related species which fly geneticists are still trying to untangle and understand.

D. melanogaster is among the most important of all urban animals. Their rapid and profuse reproduction (under ideal conditions they can go from egg to adult in about a week) and the ease with which they can be raised in captivity, have made them ideal lab animals for genetic studies. Much of what science knows the building blocks of life and how they work is directly due to the study of these humble vinegar flies. Only the house mouse can compare when it comes to animal species that have contributed to the body of knowledge we have about ourselves.

Comments

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

Haven't you heard? They're Sophophora now - Drosophila was paraphyletic

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

No, I hadn't! The popular literature certainly hasn't heard either. I'll have to look up some stuff, and apply grains of salt to my pest control handbook!

Thanks for the latest!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Sophophora appears to be a subgenus (a category I'm not familiar with, and makes me think of Bob Dobbs) and yet even in the context of the subgenus they refer to Drosphila melanogaster.

I'm left with more questions than answers, I'm afraid.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

yes, there's still big debate about it - ICZN rules state pretty categorically that it should be Sophophora now - but melanogaster's fame makes everybody really reluctant to make the switch

[propaddict.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I took a genetics class where we worked with D. melanogaster so much I got really sick of them.

I remember one unfortunate event where we were irradiating tubes of them near a sub-critical nuclear reactor and all mine died. Apparently, they were a bit too close to the core.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

I thought radiation made things bigger? :D

Dark eyed fruit fly

[angeljoy hippychick (from livejournal.com)]

I've recently had an invasion of these pests and have been googling up a storm trying to figure out how to get rid of them. They acted like fruit flies, so I was puzzled as to why my typical apple cider vinegar trap didn't work. I was at a loss but finally came up with a trap using a sponge (on which I saw them begin to congregate) and a small amount of rather rotted fruit in a cup half covered with plastic wrap. When I see a group in the cup, I quickly cover it and take it outside and release them. Now, I understand why my trap works since they are attracted to bacterial scum. I also realize I need to give the kitchen a deep clean...
Thank you so much for the helpful info.