Vinegar Flies/AKA Fruit Flies (6494)

Vinegar flies are small, slow-flying insects usually found in association with over-ripened fruit and vegetables, and are sometimes inaccurately called fruit flies. These insects are most abundant in the late summer months in Pennsylvania when tomatoes, apples, and other fruit ripen and begin to ferment. Vinegar flies are common nuisance pests in restaurants, grocery stores, fruit markets, canneries, homes, and other locations that may attract these insects with fermenting or rotting vegetative matter.

Worldwide, the family Drosophilidae has over 3,000 described species in about 60 genera. The genus Drosophila contains more than half of the known species-most of these are found in the tropics. In North America, there are approximately 175 species of flies in this family and over 60 species the genus Drosophila. Of these, Drosophila melanogaster, D. busckii, D. funebris, and D. repleta are the vinegar flies most often found within structures.

For more information, please visit this Penn State Fact Sheet.

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Penn State Entmology Department

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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