By OLIVIA MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer

FRESNO, Calif. - Sightings of the light brown apple moth - which can ruin everything from tomatoes to citrus fruit to alfalfa - have shot up into the thousands since the insect was first discovered in the San Francisco Bay area three months ago, agriculture officials said Friday.

The half-inch moth with an indiscriminate appetite has prompted a federal quarantine, brought together scientists from around the world and worried farmers in California, where agriculture brings in more than $30 billion in revenue a year.

Many fear the pesky little moth’s habits: chomping on the leaves of more than 250 plants species and ruining crops from the inside out by burrowing when it’s in caterpillar form.

The quarantine, imposed earlier this month on eight counties in California’s north and central coastal areas as well as the entire state of Hawaii, restricts the interstate movement of nursery stock, cut flowers and other plants. The moths usually spread by laying their eggs in nursery plants, or traveling hidden inside fruit or plant clippings.

About 80 percent of the moths trapped so far have been in Santa Cruz County, though the first report came in February when a retired entomologist spotted one in his Berkeley backyard. It was fortunate the unremarkable-looking light brown apple moth appeared in the yard of an expert, said Larry Hawkins, a spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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