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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 56
Light traps have been regularly set in my East Suffolk (VC25) garden for the last 22 years to survey the moths in the area, though other groups trapped alongside the Lepidoptera have been largely ignored. In July 2017, I decided I would take my camera to the traps as I was processing the morning’s haul to record some of the bycatch, even if it couldn’t be immediately identified. With the expert help of Ian Andrews and Laurence Clemons, a dipteran trapped at 125W Mercury Vapour light on the night of 28 July 2017 was identified as one of the two Nearctic Rhagoletis species - either R. cingulata or indifferens (Diptera, Tephetridae). Unfortunately, the specimen was not retained. Rhagoletis cingulata (Eastern Cherry Fruit Fly), was first identified in Britain on 9 July 2016 in Dorset by Paul Bowyer. This record was also of an individual trapped at light (Bowyer, 2016). This is a New World species occurring in the eastern states of the USA and also found in Mexico and Canada. It was first recorded in Europe in Switzerland in 1983, presumably accidentally imported with produce from the USA. It is spreading and has now been recorded in several European countries including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Netherlands and Slovenia (Augustinos et al., 2019). R. cingulata and R. indifferens (Western Cherry Fruit Fly) are very closely related allopatric species, occurring respectively in the eastern and western parts of North America. Whilst the Suffolk specimen is most likely cingulata the photographs taken do not allow indifferens (which has not been recorded in Europe) to be eliminated. In the USA these flies are pests on Prunus species and may become damaging to the cherry industry if they becomes widespread in the UK. The record has been reported to DEFRA. References Augustinos, A. A., Moraiti, C. A., Drosopoulou, E., Kounatidis, I., Mavragani-Tsipidou, P., Bourtzis, K. & Papadopoulos, N. T. (2019). Old residents and new arrivals of Rhagoletis species in Europe. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 109(6): 1-12. Bowyer, P. (2016). Rhagoletis cingulata (Loew) (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Britain. Dipterists Digest (Second series) 23: 97-98. Jeff Higgott 42 Valleyview Drive, Rushmere St. Andrew, Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 5UW
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 56 (2020)
Jeff B. Higgott
A Nearctic Rhagoletis fruit fly in Suffolk