Drosophila melanogaster

We've got fruit flies. Drosophila melanogaster, (black-bellied dew lover). Actually, we've been providing a welcoming and nurturing environment for fruit flies for most of the summer. Lots of fruits and veggies, straight from the farm, out on the counter because there's been no room in the fridge. We've been blessed with a full larder. And the fruit flies have been blessed with our bounty, as well.

My having kept a kitchen composting bucket has been part of the attraction for them, too. I was thinking that before next summer I'd buy some of those nifty soapstone fruit fly traps I've seen in gardening magazines.That was when I thought I was done with the pesky little flies for the winter. But now they're really beginning to bug me and I need a more immediate solution.

Enter the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology, whose mission is "to enhance the quality of human life and health, and to sustain our environmental resources through a better understanding of insects and related arthropods." These good agricultural people have certainly helped me to better understand fruit flies.

For one thing, I've learned that every single fruit fly that I see is capable of laying up to 500 eggs. For another, the life span of each fruit fly - from egg through adulthood to natural death - is approximately one week. I'm not very good at 'rithmetic, but that seems like a horrendously large number of fruit flies. And twice as many little red fruitfly eyes.

The Kentuckian Entomologists have helped me to understand that I can enhance the quality of my life and health by getting rid of the flies.

Although, as I've also learned, fruit flies are fairly harmless as bugs go. They don't carry any major diseases, but they can help to spread bacteria, and so should be discouraged. The good news is that when they lay their eggs, they lay them on or near the surface of the damaged fruit. And when the larvae are hatched, they continue to feed on or near the surface. This is good news because it means that you really can just break off the tip of that banana and go right on munching at the rest of it without worry that you're ingesting fruit flie larvae or eggs. So, eat boldly.

Interestingly, d. melanogaster is one of the most commonly researched upon organisms. I had no idea! According to a Wikipedia article, "About 61% of known human disease genes have a recognizable match in the genetic code of fruit flies." They are apparently used often in research on Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease.

Still, I no longer wish to host them in my kitchen.

The entomologists suggest making a fruit fly trap in this way: Get a glass jar. Pour in a few ounces of cider vinegar or substitute a slice of banana. Make a funnel out of an ordinary piece of paper, and place in the top of the jar. I did this about 10 minutes ago and already have probably 20 black-bellied dew lovers under glass.

The nice thing about this trap suggestion from my new friends at the land-grant university in Kentucky is that it doesn't kill the valuable dew lovers. I could simply release them at the curb and send them on their way. They beat their little wings 250 times per second and bank when they turn. Maybe if I point them in the right direction, they or their children could find their way to the University of Pennsylvania and give themselves to the higher cause of Parkinson's research. I'll suggest it to them.