Drosophila suzukii arrives to Minas Gerais State, a main STRAWBERRY producton region in Brazil - Drosophila suzukii desembarca en Minas Gerais, una de las principales regiones productoras de FRUTILLA (FRESA) de Brasil

Serrated ovipositor (courtesy Andreazza et al., 2016)

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) was first collected in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, in Mar 2016, in the municipality of Ervália, from an organic strawberry field. In Brazil, this pest was first recorded in the southernmost region, in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states. Drosophila suzukii’s arrival to Minas Gerais State, about 1,500 km north from its first record, should alarm the growers, the research community, and the authorites, because this region is the main strawberry production region in Brazil and is now susceptible to large increases in production losses caused by this invasive species. The lack of alternative efective management tools for D. suzukii, besides traditonal chemical sprays, makes this pest an important area of study. Future research should focus on finding strategies that match with diferent local growing systems and edaphoclimatc conditons.

Source: Felipe Andreazza, Khalid Haddi, Eugenio E. Oliveira and João Alfredo M. Ferreira. Florida Entomologist · December 2016