in fruit-growing regions worldwide. Unlike
other fruit flies that target overripe or damaged fruit, the SWD can infest healthy, ripening fruits, including strawberries, blueberries, and cherries.
The adult SWD is about 2 to 3 millimeters long, with distinctive red eyes and a yellowish-brown body. The males have a characteristic dark spot on each wing, which gives the species its name.
SWD females possess a serrated ovipositor, an adaptation that allows them to cut through the skin of ripening fruit to lay their eggs, making them particularly troublesome for fruit producers.
&
