How to Identify a Fruit Fly

Fruit flies on an apple.

You think you may have a fruit fly problem in your house, because tiny black winged insects seem to be swooping around everywhere. To be sure, note these tips for how to positively identify fruit flies in your home.

Body Color, Eye Color, and Size

If the insects' bodies are tan or pale yellow and their eyes are red, they are probably fruit flies. You might have to look at some through a magnifying glass to confirm these details. Fruit flies are quite tiny, about 1/3 to 1/4 the size of a common housefly.

Places Where You See Them

If they cluster most around partially empty soft drink or beer bottles, around ripe fruit or discarded fruit peels and cores in the trash or compost, they are most likely fruit flies. If they hover around the drains, they are probably some other fly species.

Time of Year When You See Them

If you find them most often in the early spring, they are not fruit flies. Late summer into early fall, when fruit varieties are ripening, and when people drink the highest quantities of sugary cold drinks, is the peak season for fruit flies.

Removing the fruit fly's favorite food sources will get rid of these insects.