B. tryoni are responsible for an estimated $28.5 million a year in damage to Australian crops and are the most costly horticultural pest in Australia.
Thus, experts devoted to B. tryoni control have transitioned to studying this pests' behaviors to determine a new method of elimination.
Adult B. tryoni flies are reddish brown in color, have distinct yellow markings and are typically 5–8 mm in length.
[2] Despite this behavioral difference, B. neohumeralis and B. tryoni are nearly genetically identical: the two species are only differentiable based on newly developed microsatellite technology.
Pupal development requires various temperature ranges from one week in warmer weather to one month in cooler conditions.
The flexible amount of time needed for pupal development has resulted in B. tryoni relative adaptiveness to different environments.
Unlike other fly pests, B. tryoni does not breed continuously, but spends the winter in the adult stage.
B. tryoni have been found to infect almost all commercial fruit crops as hosts, including abiu, apple, avocado, babaco, capsicum, carambola, casimiroa, cherry, citrus, custard apple, granadilla, grape, guava, kiwifruit, mango, nectarine, papaya, passionfruit, peach, pear, persimmon, plum, pomegranate, prune, quince, loquat, santol, sapodilla, tamarillo, tomato, and wax jambu, with the exception of pineapples.
[2] B. tryoni males exhibit behavior termed cue-lure, meaning that they are strongly attracted to a specific scent.
Male B. tryoni respond most greatly to the lure in the morning, likely because this is their peak of foraging time; however, an evolutionary reason for the cue-lure is not fully known.
B. tryoni have evolved to disperse widely, which was greatly influenced their ability to cause damage to farms.
In addition to lack of resources, adult flies may also move to locate overwintering sites or avoid dry or cold weather.
[17] Two of the most common lure and kill approaches for B. tryoni are the male annihilation technique (MAT) and the protein-bait spray (PBS).
[2] Both male and female B. tryoni require proteins produced by bacteria found on the leaves of plants in order to reach sexual maturity.
[2] The protein-bait spray takes advantage of this behavior by combining necessary proteins normally acquired from leaf bacteria with deadly insecticides.
[19] The combination of protein and insecticide attracts B. tryoni of both sexes, resulting in elimination of adult flies.
[21] A specific cue-lure, Willson's lure, was found to be incredibly effective at attracting sexually mature B. tryoni males.
[22] When combined with insecticides, artificially developed cue lures may be an effective elimination method of sexually mature males.
[25] If this can be accomplished, this strain can be mass-produced and released into the wild without necessitating repeated exposure to irradiation as required in methods such as the sterile insect technique (SIT).
[25] The phenotypic marker for the presence of an efficient vector for gene transfer is white eye color.
[2] Although B. tryoni have a minimum temperature requirement for survival, extreme plasticity and adaptation has been observed in adult B.
Based upon recent studies which utilize computer programs to simulate B. tryoni distribution in the event of rising temperatures, it was predicted that there will be an overall increase in Queensland fruit fly damage, but the fruit flies will re-localize to more southerly locations as northern and central Queensland will begin to exceed the maximum habitable temperature of B.
[27] However, these simulations may not accurately predict the future distributions of B. tryoni as they have exhibited an immense capability to adapt to various conditions.