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Glite Dictionary
Tephritidae

Tephritidae

1 9.9
A group of small fruit flies that often damage fruit and vegetable crops
  • noun
  • /ˌtɛf.rɪˈtaɪ.di/
  • Specialized
: Tephritidae
  • Farmers are concerned about the damage caused by Tephritidae, as many species target fruit crops.

Examples

  • The Tephritidae family includes the notorious fruit flies that can ruin a harvest.

  • Scientists study Tephritidae to better understand their impact on agriculture and pest management.

  • Cooperators included the Michigan apple industry and growers of other fruits threatened by Tephritidae family relatives of the apple maggot.

    Academic text (2000)

  • According to Stoetzel, the handbook is "a major contribution to information on biotic diversity, adding immeasurably to what we know about Tephritidae in the United States and Canada."

    Academic text (1994)

Synonyms

family Trephritidae
vsTephritidae
  • Specialized
9.0

A group of small fruit flies, some that eat leaves and harm fruit crops

is a larger group including many crop pests and some leaf miners
family Trypetidae
vsTephritidae
  • Specialized
9.9

Small flies with patterned wings whose young eat and damage fruit and plant leaves

is mainly defined by including many species that act as crop pests

Surface Forms

Tephritidae singular
Tephritidae plural

Morphology

Tephritidae = Tephritis (opaque) = tephrit + idae

The formation uses specialized taxonomic morphology (genus stem + '-idae' for family), which is not productive or obvious to average learners.

Etymology

Tephritidae comes from the Greek word tephros, which means 'ash-coloured'. Many of these fruit flies have grey or patterned wings that look like ash, so the name now refers to this whole family of fruit flies, some of which are crop pests.