Fruit flies I think...

loripo · #1 (**permalink**) 12-07-2010, 08:07 PM

Quite a few in my kitchen at the moment and they don't want to leave. I'm a long way off ground level, so a bit surprised where they came from. Will they find their way out - the windows are open?

One of them is Beelzebub I think

oxycera · #2 (**permalink**) 12-07-2010, 09:05 PM

Ceratitis capitata

jezlee · #3 (**permalink**) 12-07-2010, 10:00 PM

Just remember: time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana ...

loripo · #4 (**permalink**) 12-07-2010, 10:24 PM

So that's what they're after

Laurence Clemons · #5 (**permalink**) 13-07-2010, 08:38 AM

This is an important find. Could you provide details e.g. date, site name and grid reference for the Tephritidae recording scheme?

loripo · #6 (**permalink**) 13-07-2010, 11:39 AM

Seriously? They are in my kitchen

Would you like a few! I'll send details by PM if you would like them

loripo · #7 (**permalink**) 14-07-2010, 07:30 AM

I've been looking up more details on this and looked for photos of pupa as I found this on the counter-top where I keep a friut bowl. JUst the one that I could see, taken on 5th July. About 3mm, quite shiny, but picked up some dust I think. Could I have bought them into the flat on something?

loripo · #8 (**permalink**) 14-07-2010, 01:31 PM

I didn't post the photo of the pupa...

Then I decided that I'd better have a good look round and found another alongside a smll cupboard. I put it into a container and when I went back to have a closer look...

I have now put the lid on and am leaving it as I don't want it to fly off. Haven't been able to get a decent shot of it in the box, but it has the same wing pattern as the others.

loripo · #9 (**permalink**) 14-07-2010, 05:45 PM

I report this to our local council's biodiversity dept and this is part of the reply...
With regard to the fruit flies - these occur commonly in many households and offices and come in in several different ways. Most commonly they emerge from house plant compost but they do also emerge from composted waste or may indeed have inadvertently arrived on the strawberries. You may need to tackle all 3 options, but indeed they will not do you any harm and most houses have them from time to time and can tolerate them without needing to eradicate them (which indeed it may be impossible to do).

I do have house plants but haven't bought compost recently. I don't compost waste, being in a flat. Our rubbish collects in huge bins outside and is collected weekly, so anything could breed in there, but we haven't had this problem before. I still have to acertain where the strawbberries given me by my neighbour came from.