Dear List, I would like to solicit some help with documenting the ongoing invasion of a Drosophilid fly, Zaprionus indianus. The species was found last July in Central Florida, and had reached by the end of last year the panhandle (Tallahassee). See http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/fe89p402.pdf This year, we have documented the ongoing invasion, and by the end of August, we have documented it from Mississippi (the farthest place we sampled).
As summer is now almost over, we would like to get a snapshot of a much wider area, and for that reason would like to solicit the help of Drosophila researchers in the gulf-coast states towards Texas and north of these states. It is very well possible that this species has jumped large stretches (fruit transport), and that the expansion Tallahassee-Mississippi is just a severe underestimate of the new territory that this species has conquered. The current confirmed distribution can be found here: http://www.kimvdlinde.com/pictures/Zaprionus/Florida.gif The species is very easy to catch and to identify as it has two nice white lines across the head and thorax, which is absent in all US species. See http://www.kimvdlinde.com/professional/Zaprionus_indianus.html for an image made by Gary Steck. The species is relative large, and I can see the white stripes with my bare eyes under good light conditions (really handy). Catching is easy with some rotting fruit, or mused banana with some yeast (or beer) over it. We often collect them at the fruit dump of fruit stands. The species is a pest on figs, at least in Brazil and as such, there is some concern as it spreads towards California. I would appreciate any help on getting a decent snapshot of the current distribution. In that context, negatives are as important as positives!!!! Thanks, Kim van der Linde Florida State University -- http://www.kimvdlinde.com
