The first list of Tephritidae of Israel (Bodenheimer, 1937) enumerated 13 species, but systematic studies of the fauna began only with a small collection of O. Theodor, from which Hering (1953, 1961) described two new species. Since 1968 an intensive study of the Tephritidae of the area, their distribution, host plants and behaviour has been carried out ut (Foote & Freidberg, 1980; Freidberg, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1980a,b,c, 1981a,b,c, 1982; Freidberg & Kugler, 1977; Kugler & Freidberg, 1976). As a consequence of this study the number of species recorded from the area increased to 85, including 15 species described for the first time in the above-mentioned papers. This number of species (85) is estimated to constitute more than 90% of the actual number of species in the investigated area. From zoogeographical as well as from host-plant considerations, additional species are most likely to be found in the subfamilies Aciurinae and Terelliinae, in the myopitine genus Urophora and in the tephritine genera Tephritis Latreille, Paroxyna Hendel, Trupanea Schrank, and Actinoptera Rondani (the latter genus has not yet been recorded from Israel).
Almost all the specimens of the species recorded in this study are deposited in the National Entomological Collection at the Department of Zoology. Tel Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv. Tel Aviv.