Guava fruit fly, Dacus (Strumeta) correctus (Bezzi)

Dacus correctus (Bezzi),often referred to as the guava fruit fly (although the larvae of many other species of fruit flies feed on guava), was detected for the first time in the Western Hemisphere when 1 ♂ was found on 6 August 1986 in a methyl eugenol-baited Jackson trap in Garden Grove, Orange County, California. Two additional adult males were detected in Orange County on 9 August 1986, one trapped in a Jackson/methyl eugenol trap deployed in a peach tree in Westminster, the other in a Jackson/methyl eugenol trap hung in a grapefruit tree in Midway City, both within 2 miles of the original find. Trap density in the area of the original finds was 5 traps per square mile. California Department of Food and Agriculture Pest Detection/Emergency Projects personnel responded promptly by deploying Jackson/methyl eugenol and McPhail traps at 50 traps in the epicenter miles. Trapping in the surrounding 80 square miles was increased to 5 Jackson/methyl eugenol traps per square mile. No additional flies and no larvae have been found through mid-December. This fruit fly is strongly attracted to methyl eugenol and therefore should be detected in Oriental fruit fly detection traps baited with methyl eugenol. If it were to be allowed to go unchecked and to become established in areas such as California or Florida, D. correctus has the potential to become a major pest of citrus, peach, and several kinds of tropical and subtropical fruit hosts.