Country: United States

Title:

Anastrepha ludens (Mexican Fruit Fly): APHIS Removes the Quarantine in Harlingen and Reduces the Quarantine in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas

Contact:
Richard Johnson, Fruit Fly National Policy Manager, at (301) 851-2109 or richard.n.johnson@usda.gov

Report:

On October 13, 2022, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) removed the Mexican fruit fly (Mexfly) quarantine in Harlingen, Cameron County, Texas, after three generations elapsed with no additional detections in this area. This action releases the final 108.17 square miles of the Harlingen quarantine, which contained 699.3 acres of commercial citrus.

On September 30 and October 13, 2022, APHIS and TDA released portions of the Brownsville Mexfly quarantine area in Cameron County, Texas, after three generations elapsed with no additional detections in these areas. As a result of the release of this area, which totaled 39.56 square miles and included 147.7 acres of commercial citrus, the Brownsville Mexfly quarantine now encompasses 42.91 sq. mi. with no commercial citrus acreage.

APHIS and TDA established the original Harlingen-Brownsville, Cameron County quarantine following the confirmed detections, between January 14 and February 3, 2020, of 79 adult Mexflies and 14 Mexfly larval sites in citrus from various residential areas and 12 commercial groves in Cameron County, Texas. Subsequently, between February 4 and February 11, 2020, APHIS confirmed additional detections of 16 Mexfly adults and 16 larval sites in this area. APHIS and TDA responded to these confirmed detections by expanding the quarantine in Cameron County and restricting interstate movement of regulated articles from this area to prevent the spread of Mexfly to non-infested areas of the United States. APHIS works cooperatively with TDA to eradicate the transient Mexfly population through various control actions per program protocols.

The following website contains a description of all the current Federal fruit fly quarantine areas:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/ff-quarantine.

Under IPPC standards, Anastrepha ludens is a pest that has been eradicated from Harlingen, Cameron County, Texas and from portions of the quarantine in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. Following separate incursions, this pest is present only in one area [Brownsville Quarantine] in Texas and one area in California. This species is not widely distributed and is under official control in the United States.

Posted Date: Oct. 24, 2022, 2 p.m.