Diagnosis

Morphological – adult

Rhagoletis cerasi has a generally dark brown/black body colour except for a bright yellow scutellum and pale/white lateral band on the thorax extending anteriorly from the base of the wing. It possesses a unique wing colour pattern with a short broad transverse fuscous band towards base of wing, a broad transverse fuscous band across centre from anterior margin to hind margin and enclosing r-m crossvein, a short narrow transverse fuscous band from anterior margin to vein R4+5 and an inverted L-shaped band at apex of wing, the stem of which encloses dm-cu crossvein.

Morphological – larvae

See Pest Fruit Flies of the World – Larvae.

Molecular

Host Range

Recorded from family Caprifoliaceae (Lonicera species) and family Rosaceae (Prunus species).

Distribution

Northern Europe – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine

Central Asia – Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

North America – a recent invasive (2015) to North America (southern Ontario, Canada and New York State, USA) (Wakie et al. 2018)

Similar species

Rhagoletis cerasi is similar to other species of Rhagoletis, some of which are of unknown status; however it is readily distinguished by its unique wing colour pattern: short broad transverse fuscous band at base, a broad transverse fuscous band across centre from anterior margin to hind margin and enclosing r-m crossvein, a short narrow transverse fuscous band from anterior margin to vein R4+5 and an inverted L-shaped band at apex of wing, the stem of which encloses dm-cu crossvein.

Pest Status

• Exotic
• A major pest of commercial cherries throughout its geographic range

Attractant/Lure

No known record