A male Queensland fruit fly was found in an MPI trap in Tuarangi Rd, Grey Lynn on 18 February. It is the 4th Queensland fruit fly to be found in northern New Zealand since 2012.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff have set up a big network of traps to find out whether a breeding population of fruit flies is in the area. Laboratory staff will analyse hundreds of kilograms of fruit checking for the presence of fruit fly larvae.
The fruit fly is most likely to have entered New Zealand as an egg or larva (maggot) inside a piece of illegally imported fruit.