So what are those wormlike bugs living inside your strawberries? The little worms are actually maggots from a fruit fly of East Asian origin known as the spotted wing drosophila (SWD), according to Cornell University’s Fruit Resources . These fruit flies first landed in New York in 2011 and have since then spread throughout most of the country. The SWD is most attracted to different kinds of berries and can lay eggs in fruit even before harvest.