Drosophila suzukii has been advancing out of its native south-east Asia for the past five years and is now known to be in England and Scandinavia.

The pest has the capacity to destroy up to 80% in fruit yield, and could ruin Scotland's £250 million fruit-farming industry, already beset with problems caused by poor spring weather.

But now Edinburgh University academics, who have looked into the creature, have unravelled its genes in a move that could help them create a targeted pesticide.