genus Anastrepha includes several important pests, notably A. grandis, A. ludens (Mexican fruit fly), A. obliqua, and A. suspensa. Other pests are Strauzia longipennis, a pest of sunflowers and Rhagoletis mendax, a pest of blueberries. Another notorious agricultural pest is the Mediterranean fruit fly or Medfly, Ceratitis capitata, which is responsible for millions of dollars' worth in expenses by countries for control and eradication efforts, in addition to costs of damage to fruit crops. Similarly, the Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni) is responsible for more than $28.5 million in damage to Australian fruit crops a year. This species lays eggs in a wide variety of unripe fruit hosts, causing them to rot prior to ripening. Some fruit flies are used as agents of biological control, thereby reducing the populations of pest species. Several species of the genus Urophora are used as control agents against rangeland-destroying noxious weeds such as starthistles and knapweeds, but their effectiveness is questionable. Urophora sirunaseva produces larvae that pupate within a woody gall within the flower and disrupt seed production. Chaetorellia acrolophi is an effective biocontrol agent against knapweeds Chaetorellia australis and Chaetorellia succinea, deposit eggs into the starthistle seedheads, where their larvae consume the seeds and flower ovaries. Since economically important tephritid fruit flies exist worldwide, vast networks of researchers, several international symposia, and intensive activities on various subjects extend from ecology to molecular biology (Tephritid Workers Database). Pest management techniques applied to tephritid include the use of cover sprays with conventional pesticides, however, due to deleterious impact of these pesticides, new, less impactful and more targeted pest control techniques have been used, such as toxic food baits, male annihilation technique using specific male attractant parapheromones in toxic baits or mass trapping, or even sterile insect technique as part of integrated pest management. Systematics Tephritidae is divided into several subfamilies: Blepharoneurinae (5 genera, 34 species) Dacinae (41 genera, 1066 species) Phytalmiinae (95 genera, 331 species) Tachiniscinae (8 genera, 18 species) Tephritinae (211 genera, 1859 species) Trypetinae (118 genera, 1012 species) The genera Oxyphora, Pseudorellia, and Stylia comprise 32 species, and are not included in any subfamily (incertae sedis). Identification Richard H. Foote, P. L. Blanc, Allen L. Norrbom, 1993 Handbook of the Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) of America North of Mexico Cornell University Press (Comstock Publishing). Merz, B. 1994. Diptera Tephritidae. Insecta Helvetica Fauna 10: 1-198. White, I.M. 1988. Tephritid flies. Diptera: Tephritidae. Handbooks for