A small yellow fly in the fruit fly family, about 1/4 inch (6 mm) with distinctively patterned wings. There is strong sexual dimorphism in wing markings, the male having a black irregular longitudinal mark (photo 1) and the female having more diffuse markings with an “F” mark at the tip. Click here to view a mating pair. There are two other species of sunflower maggot flies, one known as sunflower receptacle maggot and the other as sunflower seed maggot.
The Sunflower Maggot Fruit Fly is considered common and is widely distributed. It has one generation per year. It overwinters as a larva in plant debris in the soil; pupation and adult emergence are completed in early June. Females lay eggs in stem tissue of young sunflower, and larvae feed in the stem pith tissue.
This fly can cause mild damage to wild and cultivated sunflower plants. There are 12 species in the genus Strauzia.
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