Ceratitis capitata
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Ceratitis capitata, commonly known as the Mediterranean fruit fly or medfly, is a yellow-and-brown fly native to sub-Saharan Africa. It has no near relatives in the Western Hemisphere and is considered to be one of the most destructive fruit pests in the world. There have been occasional medfly infestations in California, Florida, and Texas that require extensive eradication efforts to prevent the fly from establishing itself in the United States.
C. capitata is the most economically important fruit fly species because of both its ability to survive cooler climates more successfully than most other fruit fly species and its ability to inhabit more than 200 tropical fruits and vegetables to which it causes severe destruction and degradation. The practices that are used to eradicate the medfly after its introduction into a new environment can be extremely difficult and expensive, but infestation of C. capitata lowers crop yields and induces costly sorting processes for fresh fruits and vegetables.
C. capitata eggs are characterized by their curved shape, shiny white color, and smooth features. Each egg is approximately 1 millimetre (5⁄128 in) in length... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mediterranean Fruit Fly sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 390th most-seen of the 479 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Mediterranean Fruit Fly in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August and November–June, the lowest months.
Between 5 and 8 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mediterranean Fruit Fly sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Sierra Nevada National Park, in our data
Sierra Nevada National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Mediterranean Fruit Fly sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Tephritidae
The closest relatives of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (family Tephritidae, Fruit Flies) are Oxyaciura tibialis (about 10%) and Carpomya schineri (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mediterranean Fruit Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
