Fruit fly species, Dacus tryoni (Froggatt) and Dacus cacuminatus (Hering), regurgitated and reingested alimentary canal contents, which included bacteria. A comparison of bacteria on caged and uncaged nectarine trees and a study of bacterial and fly populations on an uncaged peach tree, in Brisbane, indicated that fruit flies introduced certain bacteria from the alimentary tract onto the host fruit surface. Adult feeding, female maturation, mating, oviposition, and larval feeding of D. tryoni and Dacus neohumeralis Hardy were all observed in the same peach tree. Certain species of introduced bacteria belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae appeared to be an important adult food source and thus played a significant role in the biology of the fly.
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Drew et al. (1987) studied this question.