Location: Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit
Project Number: 8010-30400-001-042-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 22, 2026
End Date: Sep 21, 2028
Objective:
Conduct collections and surveys of native parasitoids of spotted-wing drosophila in South Korea for biological control of this invasive pest in the US. In addition, ARS will travel to collect samples of the Korean oak wilt pathogen and its insect vector from Korea to support pre-entry studies of this pathogen in the US.
Approach:
Spotted-wing drosophila (SWD) is widespread in South Korea, and it can occur on various host fruits throughout the fruit seasons. Collections will be conducted by collaborators in different regions, monthly from June to October. ARS scientist will travel to South Korea in July 2027 to participate in the July collections and hand-carry back all collected materials in June and July. Collections methods have been developed during previous surveys. At each region and location, we will collect various suspected host fruits in a temporal sequence of fruit ripening throughout the fruit seasons. Collected fruit will be held in plastic containers at suitable room conditions to rear and collect fly puparia. The fruit will be checked once every 2-3 days to collect Drosophila puparia for a period of 2 weeks after field collection. Collected fly puparia can be kept on a piece of damp filter paper in a small petri dish for the emergence of flies and wasps. The materials collected in June will be temporarily kept at a low temperature for hand-carry back to the US together with the July collections. For other monthly collections (August to October), collect all emerged flies and wasps for each sample, preserve them in 95% alcohol vials and store the vials in a freezer until they are shipped to US for late ID. All reserved materials will be shipped to BIIRU for identification in November 2027. The materials that will be hand-carried to BIIRU quarantine in July will be used to establish new quarantine colonies or refresh our parental colony.