Native-western-north-america

Guides

• Rhagoletis zephyria

  snowberry maggot, western cherry fruit fly

  Rhagoletis zephyria is a tephritid fruit fly native to western North America, commonly known as the snowberry maggot. It is a sibling species of the economically significant apple maggot (R. pomonella), with which it shares substantial morphological similarity and a history of occasional hybridization. The species is specialized on snowberry (Symphoricarpos spp.) as its primary host, and exhibits distinct adult eclosion timing that contributes to reproductive isolation from R. pomonella. R. zephyria is not considered an agricultural pest, though its visual similarity to R. pomonella creates identification challenges for regulatory monitoring.

  fruit-flytephritidsnowberryhost-racesympatric-speciationgenitalic-morphologyolfactory-behaviorparasitoid-interactionsidentification-challengenative-western-North-America