Size: |
Small fruit fly and vinegar fly adults are about 1/8
in (3-4 mm) long, including wings. |
Characteristics: |
True fruit flies are in a different group from these Drosophila
species. Adult small fruit flies have antenna with a feathery bristle;
wings with thickened front margins, intersected in two places. Mature
Drosophila melanogaster larvae are about 1/4-3/8 in (7-8 mm) long,
eyeless, legless, and tapered from large rounded rear to the pair
of dark mouth hooks at the "head" end. |
Color: |
Adult Drosophila are dull tan to brownish yellow or brownish black;
eyes usually bright red. Larvae are nearly white, except mouth hooks
which are black, and the tips of the abdominal breathing pores which
are yellowish. |
Geographic Range: |
Worldwide, throughout the United States. |
Comparison with other species: |
True fruit flies are in the family Tephritidae, a different group.
Small dung flies have wings with thickened front margins broken in
three places. Humpbacked flies have humpback appearance. Moth/drain/sewage
flies have body and wing veins covered densely with hairs. Fungus
gnats and darkwinged fungus gnats are more mosquito-like, long legged,
slender, antenna without the bristle. |
Habitat: |
Food! Small fruit flies develop on fruit. Vinegar flies develop
in briny or vinegar-like liquids at the top of poorly sealed canned
fruits and vegetables. |
Food: |
Fresh fruits and vegetables, such as bananas, grapes, peaches,
pineapples, tomatoes; fermenting liquids, such as beer, cider, vinegar,
and wine. When fresh materials decay they are less attractive to these
flies, due to bacteria and fungi. |
Biology: |
Drosophila females lay eggs near the surface of fermenting fruits
and vegetables or in poorly sealed jars of these foods. Eggs take
about 30 hours to hatch. Larvae develop in brine or vinegar of fermenting
material. They feed near the surface, mostly on the yeast, for 5-6
days. They go to drier places to pupate. Newly emerged adults mate
in about 2 days. The life cycle may be completed within 8-10 days
at 85 degrees F (29 degrees C). |
Invasion: |
Vinegar flies and small fruit flies are small enough to go through
ordinary screens. |
Damage: |
Small fruit flies and vinegar flies are nuisance pests which also
transmit disease. Its short life cycle has made the species, Drosophila
melanogaster, especially useful in the laboratory for biological research. |
