As we gear up for our 2014 monitoring efforts in New York, reports are circulating of new places this invasive and destructive fruit fly is being found. From February through May, 2013, Drosophila suzukii was found for the first time in southern Brazil. Closer to home, spotted wing Drosophila is found in the Canadian provinces to our north and east. To get a baseline for SWD occurrence in the USA, as of the end of 2013, look at the map compiled by Hannah Burrack, entomologist at NC State University.
In New York, entomologist Faruque Zaman, Suffolk County Cornell Cooperative Extension, Long Island, has traps out, but has not caught SWD yet. Peter Jentsch, entomologist at the Hudson Valley Laboratory, has traps out, as does Greg Loeb, entomologist at the NY State Ag Experiment Station in Geneva. So far no SWD detected.
The NY statewide monitoring traps will be set in early June in the following counties - Albany, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Clinton, Columbia, Dutchess, Erie, Herkimer, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Onondaga, Ontario, Orange, Orleans, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Suffolk, Tioga, Ulster, Washington, Wayne, and Yates. Reports of SWD trap catch will be posted as they come in.
