EGG LAYING FLY
Mature adult female flies lay eggs by piercing the skin of fruit with a “sting” or ovipositor. A fly can lay up to 300 eggs over a period of 6-8 months.
The eggs are laid beneath the skin in batches of 6 or 8 eggs. They hatch out after 3-4 days.
STINGS
The only external signs of a fly struck fruit are small areas with a water soaked appearance.
IT CAN ATTACK ALL EDIBLE FRUIT
If you find any fruit containing maggots, send specimens to the Department of Agriculture, Treasury Gardens, Melbourne, C.2
X maggots
Maggots are smooth creamy coloured about -5 inch long. When placed on a smooth surface they cur! up and jump.
INFESTED FRUIT
Fruit fly maggots tunnel through the flesh of the fruit reducing it to a brown filthy pulp.
PUPAE
After two to six weeks the maggots drop to the ground, crawl into the soil and transform to the pupal stage. After I 1-14 days in the summer or 3-4 months in the winter, the adult fly emerges and so the cycle commences again.
Fruit fly is one of the world’s worst fruit pests.
It could attack all the kinds of fruit grown in Victoria.
It threatens the commercial fruit
industry of Victoria, worth £12,000,000 per annum to the State.
The continued prosperity of this industry depends on good market demand and effective control of pests and
diseases, of which it has already more than enough.
IF FRUIT FLY BECAME AN ESTABLISHED PEST IN VICTORIA.
C; Quarantine restrictions imposed by interstate and overseas governments will reduce markets or increase marketing costs.
H Extra spraying would add enormously to production costs now and in the years ahead. The suburban home gardener would get very few maggot free fruits from his own trees.
Determined action is being taken by the Department of Agriculture to :
C) Prevent the entry of fly infested fruit.
0 Eradicate spot infestations which occur.
This campaign can only be successful if every citizen will help.
Carefully read this leaflet to find out how YOU can help.
Whenever fruit fly is discovered in Victoria the area around the outbreak is proclaimed under the Vegetation Diseases (Fruit Fly) Act.
When an area is proclaimed—
J You cannot take any fruit out of the area without a permit issued by an authorized Inspector of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. You cannot move fruit from place to place within the area without a permit.
0 The Victorian Department of Agriculture can order the spraying of trees and the stripping of all fruit. The stripping and spraying of the area immediately surrounding the site where the fly was discovered will be carried out by the Department of Agriculture. The planting of certain fruit-bearing annual plants can be prohibited.
THIS ACTION IS TAKEN TO ERADICATE THE FLY AND PROTECT SURROUNDING DISTRICTS.
It is in your own and your districts interests to CO-OPERATE WITH THE VICTORIAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Y01W
stop Fruit Fly
A. C. Brooks, Govt. Print., Melb.
OF AGRICULTURE, VICTORIA
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The success of the campaign to keep Victoria free from fruit fly depends on swift action when any infested fruit is discovered.
Study the life history of the fruit fly so that you can recognize each of the stages.
The most likely sign of fruit fly attack would be the discovery of active maggots in otherwise sound fruit. The fly usually strikes fruit which is ripe or almost ripe. Windfalls should be given special attention.
You are unlikely to see the adult fly. It frequents shady parts of trees and shrubs.
Place specimens in a sealed tin, put your name and address on it, and leave with the nearest officer of the Department of Agriculture or forward direct to the Superintendent of Horticulture, Department of Agriculture, Melbourne, C.2.
.....:
Fruit Carried by Passengers is Examined Carefully.
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Highway Patrols Check Fruit Carried by Travellers.
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Fruit fly will only spread very slowly by flying.
It is most likely to be spread when fruit containing maggots is carried into a clean area from a district where the fly already occurs, mainly in private parcels of fruit—
f-/V Posted by a kind hearted but unwitting person in a northern State. c; Carried by a traveller coming into Victoria by car, train, plane or ship.
# ASK YOUR FRIENDS NOT TO SEND OR BRING FRUIT TO YOU FROM NORTHERN
STATES.
# DO NOT BRING FRUIT WITH YOU WHEN TRAVELLING INTERSTATE.
# NEVER TAKE FRUIT OUT OF A PROCLAIMED FRUIT FLY AREA.
# IF YOU MUST CARRY FRUIT MAKE SURE IT IS EXAMINED BY AN OFFICER OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Inspectors are stationed at the main border road crossings and they meet interstate trains, planes, and ships.
All commercial lines of fruit coming into Victoria are subjected to examination. Each case of fruit is tipped out and every fruit is carefully inspected.