Members of the family Tephritidae consist of striking flies with usually brightly colored body and wing patterns. The family is worldwide in distribution numbering over 4,500 species in about 100 genera found predominantly in the tropical latitudes. Larvae of living species contain some of the most economically important agricultural pests of the Diptera. Larvae are found in a variety of habitats, but probably the best known are species of the subfamily Dacinae, which invade fleshy fruits, giving rise to the common name of "fruit flies" for members of this family. Other larvae are leaf miners, gall formers, scavengers, or can be found in insect galleries and nests, rotting wood, and young plant shoots.

The fossil record for his family is poor, with only 6 species (4 described) in 6 different genera. The oldest described species consist of two from the Miocene (one from Germany, the other from Kazakhstan). Other records of the family listed here include one species from the Pliocene of Germany; the remainder are from copal and are represented by either undetermined or described living species.

In addition to the determined material listed below, undetermined material of the oldest representatives of the family and the only ones known from amber are from the Oligocene/Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic (Poinar, 1992; N.L. Evenhuis, pers. observ.).

*CERATITIS Macleay, 1829: 482. Type species: Ceratitis citriperda Macleay, 1829 [= Tephritis capitata Wiedemann, 1824], by monotypy.

*PTERANDRUS Bezzi, 1918: 231 (as genus). Type species: Ceratitis rosa Karsch, 1887, by original designation.

*?rosa Karsch, 1887: 22. AF: Mozambique; southern Africa; AF: Tanzania (Pleistocene/ Holocene) [K].

*EUPHRANTA Loew, 1862b: 28. Type species: Musca connexa Fabricius, 1794, by monoytpy.

Unidentified sp.-PA: Italy (Pleistocene) [K] (Handlirsch, 1920: 268).

*OXYNA Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 775. Type species: Oxyna flavescens Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 [= Trypeta flavipennis Loew, 1844], by subsequent designation of Hendel (1914: 96).

pluvia Dürrenfeldt, 1968: 48. PA: Germany (Pliocene) [C].

*PSEUDACIDIA Shiraki, 1933: 216 (as Acidia Robineau-Desvoidy subgenus). Type species: Acidia issikii Shiraki, 1933, by subsequent designation of Hardy (1977: 113).

clotho Korneyev, 1982: 97 (1983: 96). PA: Kazakhstan (Miocene) [C].

*TEPHRITIS Latreille, 1804: 196. Type species: Musca arnicae Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation of Cresson (1914b: 278).

antiqua Heer, 1849: 252. PA: Switzerland (Miocene) [C].

*TRIRHITHRUM Bezzi, 1918: 236. Type species: Ceratitis nigra Graham, 1910, by original designation.

Unidentified sp.-AF: Tanzania (Pleistocene/Holocene) [K] (Freidberg, 1991: 173).