The so-called spotted-wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) was first described from Japan in the 1930s. In 2008 it was recognized as an emerging global pest of soft-fruit crops. Among commercially important fruits, D. suzukii can drastically diminish yields of cherries, raspberries, peaches, plums, grapes and strawberries. Unlike other drosophilid species, the females of the species lay their eggs in fresh rather than fermenting fruits. When the larvae hatch, they consume the fruit pulp within a very short time. Now researchers led by LMU biologists Nicolas Gompel and Martin Parniske, in collaboration with the strawberry breeder Klaus Olbricht (Hansabred GmbH Co. KG, Dresden), have identified a wild strawberry in which the development of the larvae is suppressed, thus countering the spread of the pest. The new findings appear in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.