Australian Scientists Import Moroccan Fly to Combat Crop-Destroying Snails

The Moroccan fly is attracting all the attention in Australia, reports ABC, noting that to save Australian crops from the danger posed by sharp snails, especially in high rainfall regions, scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have chosen to import a species of Moroccan fly.

Unlike other pest control techniques, the use of flies as a biological control element does not require much human assistance. The released flies "lay the larvae on the shell, and these larvae will go inside the snail, they will kill it and eat it and the only thing that will come out of the shell after that is another fly," explained Valerie Caron, a CSIRO researcher, on the ABC website.

However, scientists must first ensure that this fly does not destroy the native snails from Morocco, Spain and Portugal, which do not pose any danger to crops.