On April 23, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a news release regarding recent quarantine actions taken in Texas against the Mexican fruit fly (Anastrepha ludens; Mexfly).
On April 1, 2025, APHIS and the Texas Department of Agriculture expanded the Mexfly quarantine in Sullivan City, Hidalgo and Starr Counties, Texas. On April 4, APHIS and TDA established a Mexfly quarantine in Roma, Starr County; expanded and consolidated the Edinburg and Palmview Mexfly quarantines in Hidalgo County; expanded the Harlingen-Sebastian Mexfly quarantine in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties; and expanded the Donna Mexfly quarantine in Hidalgo County.
APHIS and TDA expanded the Sullivan City quarantine by 24 square miles to 79 square miles following the confirmed detection on March 12 of Mexfly larvae in sour orange fruits on a residential property. APHIS and TDA established the Sullivan City quarantine on Jan. 28 following detections of a wild mated female Mexfly and Mexfly larvae. The quarantine area contains no commercial agriculture.
APHIS and TDA established the Roma quarantine following the confirmed detection on March 25 of Mexfly larvae in sweet orange fruits on a residential property. The quarantine area is 43 square miles and contains no commercial agriculture.
APHIS and TDA expanded the Edinburg and Palmview quarantines by 115 square miles, resulting in a consolidated quarantine of 255 square miles, henceforth named the Edinburg-Palmview quarantine, following the confirmed detections between March 18 and April 2 of Mexfly larvae in sour orange fruits on residential properties in Edinburg and McAllen and in grapefruits in a commercial grove in Mission. The consolidated quarantine area contains 8,705 acres of commercial citrus.
APHIS and TDA established the Edinburg quarantine on Aug. 30, 2024, following the detection of Mexfly larvae, expanded the quarantine on Oct. 17 of the same year following the detections of additional wild Mexflies and reduced the quarantine on Jan. 8, 2025, after three generations elapsed since the date of the last detection in one portion. APHIS and TDA established the Palmview quarantine on Feb. 10, following the detections of Mexfly larvae and a wild mated female Mexfly.
APHIS and TDA expanded the Harlingen-Sebastian quarantine by 39 square miles to 442 square miles following the confirmed detection on March 20 of a wild mated female Mexfly in a trap on a sweet orange tree on a residential property in Lyford. The quarantine area contains 1,474 acres of commercial citrus.
APHIS and TDA established the Sebastian quarantine on March 21, 2024, following the detection of a wild mated female Mexfly, and the Harlingen quarantine on March 26, 2024, following the detections of six wild mated female Mexflies. APHIS and TDA amended these individual quarantines on April 3, May 20, June 27, Aug. 2 and Aug. 29; consolidated these two quarantines on Sept. 27; and then further amended the consolidated quarantine on Oct. 11, Nov. 1 and Dec. 6, 2024, and Jan. 17, Feb. 7 and Feb. 26, 2025. These were either expansions following the detections of additional wild Mexflies or removals after three generations elapsed since the dates of the last detections in some portions.
APHIS and TDA expanded the Donna quarantine by 14 square miles to 182 square miles following the confirmed detection on March 13 of Mexfly larvae in sour orange fruits on a residential property in Edinburg. APHIS and TDA established the Donna quarantine on August 15, 2024, following the detection Mexfly larvae, and expanded the quarantine on Sept. 28 and Nov. 18, 2024, and Jan. 17, 2025, following the detections of additional Mexflies. The quarantine area contains 1,860 acres of commercial citrus.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles to prevent the spread of Mexfly to non-infested areas of the U.S., as well as to prevent the entry of these fruit flies into foreign trade. APHIS is working with TDA to eradicate transient Mexfly populations following program guidelines for survey, treatment and regulatory actions.
The APHIS exotic fruit flies website contains descriptions and maps of the quarantine areas, as well as all current federal fruit fly quarantine areas. APHIS will publish a notice of these changes in the Federal Register.
