– A parasitoid wasp that is the natural enemy of a fly known as the spotted-wing drosophila could be a good friend to growers.
The drosophila flies cause major damage to several Washington crops, especially sweet cherries and berries.
Beers and her team found the parasitoid, called Ganaspis brasiliensis, this September, in a wild blackberry patch less than a mile from the Canadian border near Lynden, Washington.
Another parasitoid of the drosophila pest, Leptopilina japonica, was also found in British Columbia in 2019 and in Washington state in 2020 by Chris Looney of the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
To do that, an entomologist went to the native home of spotted-wing drosophila, found the Ganaspis, and brough back several samples.
During that process, the Ganaspis found its own way to North America and is spreading without help.
This is the third exotic species that Beers and her lab has found in the last few years.