Rhagoletis mendax

Description

Rhagoletis mendax is a species of tephritid fruit fly known by the common name blueberry maggot. It is a major pest of blueberry crops in the eastern and southern United States and eastern Canada. It attacks several species of blueberry and related plants. The larva is 5 to 8 mm long and white with tiny black mouthparts. The adult fly is slightly smaller, and mostly black in color with white stripes, orange-red eyes, and black-banded wings. The fly is destructive to fruit when it is a larva. The adult female fly lays a single egg in a blueberry, and when the larva hatches, it consumes the fruit, usually finishing the entire berry in under 3 weeks. The larva then falls into the soil and pupates. Adult flies emerge, mate, and oviposit when blueberry plants are producing fruit. Each female fly lays 25 to 100 eggs. The blueberry maggot is closely related to the apple maggot, R. pomonella, a fruit fly in the same genus. Blueberry maggot infestations are generally controlled chemically.