Mediterranean fruit fly

1 5.2

A small black and white fly whose young eat the inside of fruit

noun

: mosca de la fruta mediterránea

Farmers in California are using traps to monitor and control the spread of the Mediterranean fruit fly, which threatens their crops.

Examples

Newly improved traps and an environmentally friendly, sun-activated insecticide may help spell doom for the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Academic text (1996)
One of the worst of these is the Mediterranean fruit fly, which attacks many important crops, among them U.S. citrus valued at almost $2 billion annually.

Academic text (1994)
The female Mediterranean fruit fly, shown here on a coffee fruit, can deposit eggs 5 millimeters deep in papayas.

Academic text (1998)
Temperature-sensitive lethal Mediterranean fruit flies, or TSLs for short.

Academic text (2000)
Hot-forced air kills three different kinds of crop-damaging fruit flies: the Mediterranean fruit fly, oriental fruit fly, and melon fly.

Academic text (1998)
SIT has been used successfully in various parts of the world to eradicate other insect pests, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly in Chile, Mexico, and California, along with the New World screwworm in Libya and Central America.

Academic text (1998)
Dropped from airplanes to work in areas where invading medflies have been detected, the TSL medflies have an important assignment: find and mate with wild female Mediterranean fruit flies.

Academic text (2000)
A new, environmentally friendly insecticide called spinosad may soon become a widely accepted alternative to the malathion sprays used today for fighting insect pests such as the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Academic text (2000)
Unfortunately, so does a quartet of subtropical fruit fly pests: the Oriental fruit fly, melon fly, Mediterranean fruit fly, and solanaceous (Malaysian) fruit fly.

Academic text (2001)
The Mediterranean fruit fly lays its eggs inside citrus fruits, causing significant damage when the larvae hatch.

Synonyms

fruit fly

vsMediterranean fruit fly

14 2.6

A small flying insect whose young eat and spoil ripe or rotten fruit

is the specific black and white species that lays eggs inside citrus fruit

medfly

vsMediterranean fruit fly

Specialized

3 9.3

A small fly that lays eggs inside fruit and damages crops

is the full common name rather than the informal short form

Ceratitis capitata

vsMediterranean fruit fly

Specialized

9.9

A small black and white fruit fly that lays eggs inside fruit like oranges

is the common name used for the same species

Surface Forms

Mediterranean fruit fly singular

Mediterranean fruit flies plural

Morphology

Mediterranean + fruit + fly

The phrase is fully compositional: 'fly' names an insect, modified by 'fruit' (indicating association with fruit) and 'Mediterranean' (a geographic qualifier). A B1 learner who knows those words can infer it denotes a type of fly associated with fruit from the Mediterranean region, following common modifier+noun patterns that are cross-linguistically transparent.

Etymology

Mediterranean fruit fly is a clear name: Mediterranean shows the region, fruit shows what it attacks, and fly shows the insect. This tiny fly lays 'eggs' inside fruit and the 'baby insects' eat the fruit from the inside, so the name helps us remember it is a pest that damages fruit.