Efforts to stop exotic fruit flies from entering the Australian mainland through the Torres Strait will continue with a revised five-year response plan endorsed by the National Management Group on 28 June.

The response plan covers activities that target three exotic fruit flies: Melon fly; Oriental fruit fly; and New Guinea fruit fly.

The revised response plan is cost-shared under national response arrangements and is an extension of the 2015-18 and 2018-21 response plans that have been highly successful in monitoring and eradicating incursions of the three target exotic fruit flies.

If you think you have seen an exotic fruit fly, you need to report it to the national Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.

About the target species

• Melon fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) is a serious pest of cucurbit crops, and may also affect other crops including avocado, bean, cherry, cowpeas, guava, lychee, navel orange, papaya, passionfruit and tomato.

• Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) is a highly invasive species with a very wide host range including; avocado, banana, bean, capsicum, cashew, cherry, coffee, cucumber, eggplant, grapefruit, guava, lemon, lime, mandarin, mango, navel orange, papaya, peach, passionfruit and tomato.

• New Guinea fruit fly (Bactrocera trivialis) is a major pest of chilli, grapefruit, guava and peach.