Drosophila  spp.

Acid rot

Insects are probably a significant source of the microorganisms constituting the epiflora of grape berries. Indeed, these are visited by many insects: bees, hoverflies, wasps, moths, mites, mealybugs, weevils, cicadas, grasshoppers, spiders, earwigs.These insects are very likely to help shape the microbial flora of the bunch. Fruit flies also play this role, and in particular the Drosophila (Sophophora) melanogaster Meigen 1830 and Drosophila (Sophophora) simulans Sturtevant 1919 which are often associated with acid rot in the vineyard near the harvest.

Adult fruit flies with their single pair of wings are classified to the order Diptera and their short antennae to the suborder Brachycera. Their wings with 2 costal fractures and the posterior median cell open at its end, the yellow to brown coloration, their small size of 2 to 4 mm, the red eyes and the terminal part of the antennae (arista) feathery are characteristic of the family of Drosophilidae, known as Drosophila.

They are usually called “midges”, and on vines “vinegar, wine or cellar flies”. They are cosmopolitan in France and in Europe on ripe fruits, attracted by sweet juices. The species Drosophila melanogaster is widely used in the laboratory for genetic studies because it reproduces very quickly.

Classification : Animalia, Arthropoda, Insecta, Diptera, Brachycera, Drosophilidae