Managing the global invasive pest Drosophila suzukii: Strategies and challenges

The spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) is a globally invasive pest that threatens the production of soft-skinned and stone fruits. Characterized by a serrated ovipositor that enables females to lay eggs in intact ripening fruit, D. suzukii causes direct larval feeding damage and promotes secondary pathogen infections, leading to significant economic losses. Although chemical insecticides remain the dominant control method in commercial systems, their long-term sustainability is increasingly compromised by insecticide resistance and environmental concerns. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of current management strategies against D. suzukii, covering advances in monitoring techniques, cultural and physical controls, chemical approaches, and biological control utilizing parasitoid wasps, predators, and entomopathogens. We emphasize that the integration of multiple control measures within a systematic integrated pest management (IPM) framework is essential to achieve effective, economically viable, and ecologically sustainable suppression of this pervasive pest.