Snowberry

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

• Sphinx vashti

  Vashti Sphinx

  Sphinx vashti, the Vashti sphinx, is a moth in the family Sphingidae. It is found in western North America from British Columbia to Manitoba and south to southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas. The species exhibits highly variable forewing coloration ranging from pale to very dark gray, with distinctive black dashes and a black hindwing featuring white bands. It has one brood per year.

  Sphingidaesphinx-mothhawkmothwestern-North-AmericaSymphoricarpossnowberrycoralberryunivoltine